Posted by It is undeniably a sad day in the history of Cardiff Rugby as Ellis Jenkins has announced he will retire from professional rugby at the end of the 2023/24 season.
The soon-to-be 31-year-old hangs up his boots having played 147 times for the Blue & Blacks, a number of those as captain, alongside winning 15 caps for Cymru and having captained Cymru D20 to the World Rugby U20 Championship Final in 2013.
It’s an incredible career for someone who is retiring arguably a few years earlier than he might otherwise have, and particularly for a player who has had to overcome the injury that Jenkins suffered against South Africa in 2018.
That incident and the subsequent recovery are not going to be the focus of this piece; the story is well-known and it is not what defines Ellis Jenkins the player, but it does underline a lot of what is great about Ellis Jenkins the man. His determination, maturity, and undoubtedly a healthy dose of good humour, got him back to a point where he could play international rugby again.
Let’s rewind to 2013 and the scenery for young opensides at the Arms Park was a challenging one; Sam Warburton was 25 and one of the best players in the world, Josh Navidi was 23 and breaking into the Wales squad, while the likes of Luke Hamilton and Thomas Young were also emerging as exciting young back row players.
Jenkins though was the standout talent after his exploits with Cymru D20 and slotted straight into the first team. By the end of the 2013/14 campaign he was established in the matchday 23, during 2014/15 he began to dominate the seven jersey, and by the 2015/16 he was arguably the first name on the teamsheet.
Senior international honours followed at the culmination of that campaign and the nickname of “Simba” was bestowed upon him as a future British & Irish Lions captain. A perfect mix of pace, power, mobility, vision, anticipation and natural leadership in the way he carried himself was sure to see him sail right to the top.
From a Cardiff perspective that led directly to his involvement in the lifting of the 2018 European Challenge Cup trophy, something he did alongside Gethin Jenkins such was his impact as a leader during that season.
His formative years in senior professional rugby came at a tough time for the Blue & Blacks with plenty of off-field turmoil leading to some bleak years on-the-field, but the Llantwit Fardre flanker was a key man in guiding the club through that and helping to rebuild us under Danny Wilson and Matt Sherratt. His performance in Bilbao will go down in history as the ultimate in leadership.
The injury comes at a dreadful time, not that there is any good time to do your ACL as such, but it also overshadows what was one of the most incredible individual performances the red jersey of Cymru has seen over the last decade.
Jenkins wasn’t due to start that day, having originally been named on the bench, but came into the XV as a late replacement for Dan Lydiate and then switched to number eight during the first half when Ross Moriarty went off. None of that phased him though as he was magnificent on both sides of the ball helping the team to a 20-11 victory and Autumn clean sweep.
Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of his rugby story though is that, after two years and three months on the sidelines, and then a rocky road back to even semi-regular playing, he not only was able to return to the Cardiff first team squad but also won a recall to the national team squad for the 2021 Autumn Internationals, ironically winning his first cap back against the Springboks.
To deal with the injury, go through all the physical and mental rigours of rehabilitation, no doubt come close to calling it a day multiple times, and then return at such a high level for the Blue & Blacks and Cymru is a mind-boggling feat.
Looking at his performances for the club this season it perhaps makes sense now that Jenkins decided early on this would be his final campaign as a player, as he’s played with a freedom that undoubtedly comes with that sort of weight being lifted, displaying everything good about his rugby brain and wringing the last ounces of physical ability from his knee.
Like Josh Turnbull last week though, his legacy will live on at the Arms Park through the man-of-the-match performances, the lifting of the Challenge Cup in Bilbao and, after this year, the careers of Alex Mann, Mackenzie Martin and Lucas De La Rua who will have benefited from his insight and leadership immensely.
Although the career didn’t pan out quite the way it should have, it was still a 13 years packed with high achieving and top honours for Ellis Jenkins, who hangs up his boots a true legend of Cardiff Rugby.
Diolch Ellis!
Cardiff Rugby Life 