The Dragons nominee for scrum half, as voted for by our supporters, for the regional all stars Ultimate XV is Gareth Cooper. The former British & Irish Lion and Wales international faces the tough task of displacing Mike Phillips (Ospreys), Dwayne Peel (Scarlets) and Tomos Williams (Cardiff Blues).
CLICK HERE to vote for Gareth Cooper
In the Dragons Ultimate XV poll it was aclosely fought battle for the nine jersey, with the majority of the votes split between Gareth Cooper, Rhodri Williams and Sarel Pretorius, and only about a hundred votes separating the three players.
Cooper made his Wales Test debut against Italy in Rome in 2001 whilst playing his club rugby for Bath. Cooper's early years had been spent with Pencoed RFC where he grew up, before he made the switch across the Severn Bridge to the West Country.
After making his debut Cooper toured Japan with Wales before nailing down the Wales scrum-half jersey as his own before the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia. Cooper made five appearances during the tournament as Wales progressed to the quarter-final stage.
Cooper returned to Wales to play for the newly-formed Celtic Warriors in 2003 and began a battle for the Test jersey with Dwayne Peel. Folllowing the demise of Celtic Warriors, Cooper joined the Men of Gwent in 2004 and was selected for the 2005 British and Irish Lions tour of New Zealand, playing the warm-up Test against Argentina at the Millennium Stadium before finding himself again behind Peel on tour.
Gareth spent three seasons at Rodney Parade, playing 45 times and scoring 7 tries, with his best campaign arguably being his final season as Dragons made it to the 2007 European Challenge Cup semi-final.
Cooper left Dragons to join English Premiership side Gloucester to link up with Dean Ryan at the start of the 2007-08 season and earned selection for his second Rugby World Cup in 2007, remaining a Wales squad member as Gatland’s side secured the 2008 Six Nations Grand Slam, however he found his appearances increasingly limited at international level with the rise of Mike Phillips alongside Peel.
Injuries to both these players offered Cooper another shot at the Wales jersey for the summer tour to South Africa, with Cooper playing both Tests and scoring an excellent individual try in the second. He then kept Peel on the bench for Wales' autumn internationals, including a win over Australia at the Millennium Stadium.
In January 2009 Cooper was announced alongside Phillips as Wales' scrum-halves for the 2009 Six Nations, but injury prevented him from taking any part and following the tournament he signed for Cardiff Blues, but injury curtailed his career.
