Dan Lydiate

Dan Lydiate
Rugby union career

Full name	Danny John Lydiate
Date of birth	(1987-12-18) 18 December 1987
Place of birth	Salford, England
Height	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Weight	112 kg (247 lb; 17 st 9 lb)
Playing career
Position	Flanker
Professional / senior clubs
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
2008–2009 2013–2014	Ebbw Vale Pontypool Racing Métro	4 19	(0) (0)
Provincial/State sides
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
2007–2013 2014–	NG Dragons Ospreys	85 18	(15) (5)
correct as of 1 January 2016.
National team(s)
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
2009– 2013	Wales U20 Wales British and Irish Lions	53 3	(20) (0)
correct as of 13 February 2016.

Dan Lydiate (born 18 December 1987) is a Wales international rugby union player. A flanker, Lydiate was raised in Llandrindod Wells and is a product of the Newport Gwent Dragons academy.

Early life

The younger of two sons born to English docker John Lydiate at Hope Hospital, their Welsh mother Lynne raised them in Salford, Greater Manchester.^[1] After their father suffered an injury, the family moved to Llandrindod Wells when Dan was aged 4, so that their father could work on his father-in-law's 202 hectares (500 acres) sheep farm in the Cambrian Mountains.^[2] Older brother Jack represented Wales colleges at rugby.^[1] Dan and Jack have two older brothers John (also born at Hope Hospital) and Steven and an older sister Gillian from their father's first marriage.

Career

He was an ever present member of the Wales Under 20 back row along with Lewis Evans and James Harris for their Six Nations campaign in 2006/7 and progressed to the Dragons senior side at the end of that season. Early in the 2007/08 season he suffered a serious neck injury in the Heineken Cup Group match away to Perpignan which ruled him out for the rest of the season, with doubts raised as to whether or not he would ever play again.^[3]^[4]^[5]

On 25 October 2009 Lydiate was named in the Wales national squad for the November 2009 international series, making his debut as a second-half replacement against Argentina on 21 November 2009.^[6] Following the withdrawal of captain Ryan Jones from the Wales squad to face Australia in the final Autumn International, Lydiate made his first test match start at flanker on 28 November 2009.^[7] He was named in the Wales squad for the 2010 Six Nations Championship, however did not play a single game. He then broke into the Welsh first XV in the autumn internationals of that year, starting against Australia, New Zealand and Fiji as well as being named in the team to face South Africa before withdrawing with a calf injury. He won the Man of the Match award against the Fijians, where he wore the Number 7 jersey for the first time.

He played every match of Wales' 2011 Six Nations Championship campaign as well as all four warm-up matches. In August 2011 he was named in the Wales squad for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.^[8] He played in Wales' opening two games against South Africa and Samoa, but missed the pool games against Namibia and Fiji with an ankle injury that lead to him infamously waking up to ice his leg every hour. It paid off, and he played a key role in Wales' quarter-final win over Ireland and then subsequent losses to France and Australia. He finished second on the tournament's top-tacklers, behind only Wales and Dragons teammate Toby Faletau.

In the 2012 Six Nations Championship, Lydiate received the Player of the Tournament award after featuring in every game bar the opener against Ireland and receiving man of the match awards against Scotland and France.^[9]

In April 2013 Lydiate was named in the squad for the 2013 British and Irish Lions tour to Australia.^[10]

Lydiate left Newport Gwent Dragons at the end of the 2012-13 season and joined the Paris-based club Racing Métro 92.

On 30 October 2014 it was announced Lydiate would be leaving Racing Metro and returning to Wales on a dual contract between the Welsh Rugby Union and a Welsh region, on 7 December 2014 this was announced to be Ospreys^[11]

Dan Lydiate was a part of the Welsh team for World Cup 2015.

References

External links

Ospreys - current squad

Forwards	Ardron Arhip Ashley Baker Baldwin Beard Bearman Bernardo Bevington Boladau Collier Cracknell Delve Dwyer Evans Fia Griffiths Hughes James Jarvis AW Jones King Lydiate Otten Parry N Smith Suter G Thomas M Thomas Thornton Tipuric Underhill

Backs	Beck Biggar Davies Dirksen Engelbrecht D Evans Fussell Grabham Habberfield Hassler Howells Jenkins John Leonard Matavesi Phillips Roberts Spratt Walker Watkin Webb

Head Coach	Tandy

Squads

Wales squad – 2015 Rugby World Cup

Forwards	Baldwin Ball Charteris B. Davies Day Faletau Francis James Jarvis Jenkins Jones King Lee Lydiate Moriarty Owens Tipuric Warburton (c)

Backs	Amos Anscombe (Replaced Amos) Allen Biggar Cuthbert G. Davies Hook (Replaced S. Williams) M. Morgan T. Morgan (Replaced Allen) North Phillips Priestland Roberts Walker (Replaced Li. Williams) Li. Williams Ll. Williams S. Williams

Head Coach: Gatland; Assistant coaches: Edwards, Howley, McBryde

British and Irish Lions – 2013 Australia tour

Forwards	Rory Best (Ireland) (Replaced D.Hartley) Dylan Hartley (England) (Ruled out by suspension) Richard Hibbard (Wales) Tom Youngs (England) Dan Cole (England) Alex Corbisiero (England) (Replaced C.Healy) Tom Court (Ireland) (Called up as injury cover) Ryan Grant (Scotland) (Replaced G.Jenkins) Cian Healy (Ireland) (Ruled out by injury) Gethin Jenkins (Wales) (Ruled out by injury) Adam Jones (Wales) Matt Stevens (England) Mako Vunipola (England) Ian Evans (Wales) Richie Gray (Scotland) Alun Wyn Jones (Wales) Paul O'Connell (Ireland) (Ruled out by injury) Geoff Parling (England) Tom Croft (England) Dan Lydiate (Wales) Sean O'Brien (Ireland) Justin Tipuric (Wales) Sam Warburton (C) (Wales) Taulupe Faletau (Wales) Jamie Heaslip (Ireland)

Backs	Conor Murray (Ireland) Mike Phillips (Wales) Ben Youngs (England) Owen Farrell (England) Jonathan Sexton (Ireland) Brad Barritt (England) (Called up as injury cover) Jonathan Davies (Wales) Brian O'Driscoll (Ireland) Jamie Roberts (Wales) Manu Tuilagi (England) Billy Twelvetrees (England) (Called up as injury cover) Tommy Bowe (Ireland) Alex Cuthbert (Wales) Sean Maitland (Scotland) George North (Wales) Christian Wade (England) (Called up as injury cover) Shane Williams (Wales (Called up as injury cover) Simon Zebo (Ireland) (Called up as injury cover) Leigh Halfpenny (Wales) Stuart Hogg (Scotland) Rob Kearney (Ireland)

Coach	Warren Gatland (plus Rob Howley, Andy Farrell, Graham Rowntree and Neil Jenkins)

Wales squad – 2011 Rugby World Cup fourth place

Forwards	Bennett Bevington Burns Charteris B. Davies Faletau James Jenkins A. Jones A.W. Jones R. Jones Lydiate Mitchell Owens Powell Warburton (c)

Backs	Brew Byrne J. Davies Halfpenny Hook S. Jones Knoyle North Phillips Priestland Roberts L. Williams Sc. Williams Sh. Williams

Coach: Gatland

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