Wales have competed in the sport of rugby union since their first international in 1881. They take part in the annual Six Nations Championship and have appeared at every Rugby World Cup.

The records listed below only include performances in test matches. The top five are listed in each category (except when there is a tie for the last place among the five, when all the tied record holders are noted).

Team records

Greatest winning margin

Margin Date Opposing Team Result Venue Competition
98 26 November 2004  Japan 98 – 0 Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales 2004 Autumn Internationals
91 17 May 1994  Portugal 102 – 11 Universitario Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal 1995 Rugby World Cup qualifier
74 4 June 2005  United States 77 – 3 Rentschler Field, Hartford, United States 2005 Summer Internationals
74 26 September 2011  Namibia 81 – 7 Yarrow Stadium, New Plymouth, New Zealand 2011 Rugby World Cup
72 19 September 2001  Romania 81 – 9 Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales 2001 Autumn Internationals

Greatest losing margin

Margin Date Opposing Team Result Venue Competition
83 27 June 1998  South Africa 13 – 96 Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria, South Africa 1998 Summer Tour
57 22 July 1991  Australia 6 – 63 Ballymore Stadium, Brisbane, Australia 1991 Summer Tour
57 4 June 2007  England 5 – 62 Twickenham Stadium, London, England 2007 Rugby World Cup warm-up matches
52 21 June 2003  New Zealand 3 – 55 Waikato Stadium, Hamilton, New Zealand 2003 Summer Tour
51 5 April 1998  France 0 – 51 Wembley Stadium, London, England 1998 Five Nations Championship

Individual career records

Most caps

# Player Period Caps Starts Subs Position
1 Alun Wyn Jones 2006–2023 158 143 15 Lock
2 Gethin Jenkins 2002–2016 129 93 36 Prop
3 George North 2010–2024 121 116 5 Wing/Centre
4 Dan Biggar 2008–2023 112 92 20 Fly-half
5 Taulupe Faletau 2011– 104 94 10 Number 8
Stephen Jones 1998–2011 86 18 Fly-half
7 Leigh Halfpenny 2008–2023 101 95 6 Fullback
8 Gareth Thomas 1995–2007 100 94 6 Wing
Martyn Williams 1996–2012 100 87 13 Flanker
10 Jonathan Davies 2009–2022 96 91 5 Centre

Last updated: 17 March 2024. Statistics include officially capped matches only.[1]

Most points

# Player Period Points Caps Tries Con Pen DG PPG
1 Neil Jenkins 1991–2002 1049 87 11 130 248 10 12.06
2 Stephen Jones 1998–2011 917 104 7 153 186 6 8.82
3 Leigh Halfpenny 2008–2023 801 101 15 81 188 0 7.93
4 Dan Biggar 2008–2023 631 112 8 102 120 9 5.63
5 James Hook 2006–2015 352 81 13 46 61 4 4.35
6 Paul Thorburn 1985–1991 304 37 2 43 70 0 8.22
7 Shane Williams 2000–2011 290 87 58 0 0 0 3.33
8 George North 2010–2024 235 121 47 0 0 0 1.96
9 Arwel Thomas 1996–2000 211 23 11 30 32 0 9.17
10 Gareth Thomas 1995–2007 200 100 40 0 0 0 2

Last updated: 17 March 2024. Statistics include officially capped matches only.[2]

Most tries

# Player Period Tries Caps Ave. Position
1 Shane Williams 2000–2011 58 87 0.67 Wing
2 George North 2010–2024 47 121 0.39 Wing/Centre
3 Gareth Thomas 1995–2007 40 100 0.4 Wing
4 Ieuan Evans 1987–1998 33 72 0.46 Wing
5 Colin Charvis 1996–2007 22 94 0.23 Flanker
6 Josh Adams 2018– 21 58 0.36 Wing
7 Gerald Davies 1966–1978 20 46 0.43 Wing
Gareth Edwards 1967–1978 20 53 0.38 Scrum-half
Tom Shanklin 2001–2011 20 70 0.29 Centre
Liam Williams 2012–2023 20 89 0.22 Fullback

Last updated: 17 March 2024. Statistics include officially capped matches only.[3]

Most appearances as captain

# Player Period Caps Win % Position
1 Sam Warburton 2011–2016 49 0.47 Flanker
2 Alun Wyn Jones 2009–2021 48 0.58 Lock
3 Ryan Jones 2008–2013 33 0.58 Flanker
4 Ieuan Evans 1991–1995 28 0.46 Wing
5 Colin Charvis 2002–2004 22 0.5 Flanker
Rob Howley 1998–1999 22 0.68 Scrum-half
7 Gareth Thomas 2003–2007 21 0.43 Wing
8 Jonathan Humphreys 1995–2003 19 0.32 Hooker
9 Arthur Gould 1889–1897 18 0.44 Hooker
10 Clive Rowlands 1963–1965 14 0.43 Scrum-half

Match records

Most points in a match

# Player Pts Tries Con Pen DG Opposition Venue Date
1 Neil Jenkins 30 1 5 5 0  Italy Stadio Comunale di Monigo, Treviso 20 March 1999
2 Neil Jenkins 29 0 1 9 0  France Millennium Stadium, Cardiff 28 August 1999
3 Neil Jenkins 28 1 1 7 0  Canada Millennium Stadium, Cardiff 21 August 1999
Neil Jenkins 28 1 4 5 0  France Stade de France, Saint-Denis 17 March 2001
Gavin Henson 28 0 14 0 0  Japan Millennium Stadium, Cardiff 26 November 2004
6 Neil Jenkins 27 0 3 7 0  Italy Millennium Stadium, Cardiff 19 February 2000
7 Stephen Jones 26 0 10 2 0  Romania Millennium Stadium, Cardiff 19 September 2001
8 Neil Jenkins 24 0 0 8 0  Canada Millennium Stadium, Cardiff 10 November 1993
Neil Jenkins 24 0 0 7 1  Italy Millennium Stadium, Cardiff 12 October 1994
Gavin Henson 24 0 6 4 0  Romania The Racecourse, Wrexham 27 August 2003
Leigh Halfpenny 24 2 4 2 0  Scotland Millennium Stadium, Cardiff 4 February 2018

Most tries in a match

# Player Tries Opposing team Venue Competition Date
1 Willie Llewellyn 4  England St. Helen's, Swansea 1899 Home Nations Championship 7 January 1899
Reggie Gibbs 4  France National Stadium, Cardiff Test Match 2 March 1908
Maurice Richards 4  England National Stadium, Cardiff 1969 Five Nations Championship 12 April 1969
Ieuan Evans 4  Canada Rugby Park Stadium, Invercargill 1987 Rugby World Cup 3 June 1987
Nigel Walker 4  Portugal Universitario Lisboa, Lisbon Test Match 18 May 1995
Gareth Thomas 4  Italy Stadio Comunale di Monigo, Treviso Test Match 20 March 1999
Shane Williams 4  Japan Hanazono Rugby Stadium, Osaka Test Match 10 June 2001
Tom Shanklin 4  Romania Millennium Stadium, Cardiff 2004 Autumn Internationals 15 November 2004
Colin Charvis 4  Japan Millennium Stadium, Cardiff 2004 Autumn Internationals 26 November 2004

Rugby World Cup records

See also: Wales at the Rugby World Cup

Career

Most appearances at Rugby World Cup
21 – Alun Wyn Jones (2007, 2011, 2015, 2019) [4]
Most Rugby World Cup tournaments
4 – Gareth Thomas, Stephen Jones, Gethin Jenkins, Alun Wyn Jones, George North
Most points at Rugby World Cup
123 – Dan Biggar (2015, 2019, 2023)
Most tries at Rugby World Cup
10 – Shane Williams (2003, 2007, 2011)[5]

Tournament

Most points at a tournament
57 – Neil Jenkins (1999) [6]
Most tries at a tournament
7 – Josh Adams (2019) [7]

Match

Most points in a game
23 – Dan Biggar vs England (2015),[8] Gareth Anscombe vs Australia (2023)
Most tries in a game
4 – Ieuan Evans vs Canada (1987) [9]
Fastest score at Rugby World Cup
36 seconds – Dan Biggar vs Australia (2019)
Fastest try at Rugby World Cup
2 minutes 8 seconds  – Jonathan Davies vs Georgia (2019)

References

  1. ^ "Player Records".
  2. ^ "Wales - Wales News, Scores, Stats, Rumors & More - ESPN".
  3. ^ "Player Records".
  4. ^ "Rugby World Cup 2019".
  5. ^ "Rugby World Cup 2019".
  6. ^ "Rugby World Cup 2019".
  7. ^ "Rugby World Cup 2019".
  8. ^ "Dan Biggar inspires Wales to dramatic late victory over England | Rugby World Cup".
  9. ^ "World Rugby".
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