Aaron Shingler

Aaron Shingler was born in Aldershot to a Scottish mother, but grew up in west Wales.

He learned his rugby at Pontarddulais Comprehensive School and Gorseinon Tertiary College and went on to play cricket for England Under 19. A multi-talented all-round sportsman, he played for the Glamorgan 2nd XI for three seasons before signing for the senior side in 2007. A right-arm fast bowler he played once for England U19 in a youth one-day international against Bangladesh in 2005 and also represented Wales Minor Counties. His release from Glamorgan saw him pursue a career in rugby when he signed for Welsh Premiership side Llanelli.

He was called up by the Scarlets regional side in April, 2009, for their derby clash with the Ospreys and went on to play in three of the Scarlets’ four remaining fixtures at the end of that season. He had to miss the away defeat at Leinster as he was playing for Llanelli in the WRU Challenge Cup final. He scored a solo try from 70 metres, but it wasn’t enough to prevent Neath from winning 27-21.

Shingler’s first international call came in rugby’s shorter format a year later when he was selected to play for Wales Sevens at the Delhi Commonwealth Games. He helped Wales qualify from their pool, but in the end they were defeated 38-12 by Samoa in the Plate semi-final.
He has now made more than 100 appearances over his 10 year stint at the Scarlets and helped them to win the Guinness PRO12 title in 2017, when he was man of the match in the final against Munster. He played in the final defeat by Leinster in 2018, but unfortunately suffered a knee injury which forced him to miss the entire 2018/19 season.

He was called into Wales’ 35-man senior squad for the training camp in Poland prior to the 2012 6 Nations and made his international debut against Scotland on 12 February, 2012. It was his only appearance in Wales’ Grand Slam campaign, although he featured twice in the autumn of 2012 and in thee of Wales’ 2013 6 Nations ties as they made it back-to-back titles.

He played one match on Wales’ 2014 summer tour of South Africa, but had to wait until 2017 for his next cap. He then became a regular in the summer and autumn of 2017 and in the 2018 6 Nations before injury struck. His first Test try came against Ireland in Dublin in February 2018. He returned to the Wales squad when he was named in the 42-man training party for the 2019 Rugby World Cup.