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Jonathan is one of the classiest Welsh centres of recent years, distinguishable by his wearing of headgear and he not only started in 90 of his 96 international appearances, but he also played in all three tests for the Lions in Australia in 2013 and played against the Barbarians in Hong Kong. Then, in 2017 he toured with the Lions to New Zealand playing in all three tests and being selected as the Player of the Series. For Wales he scored 16 tries and made 39 appearances while with the Scarlets, then 17 from Clermont-Auvergne and 40 more on returning to the Scarlets. He toured to Canada and USA in 2009; New Zealand in 2010; Australia in 2012 and New Zealand in 2016. His international tries include two in his second test, against USA in 2009, and two more against Ireland in 2012. Living in Bancyfelin, Carmarthenshire, he attended Duffryn Taf Comprehensive School and then Trinity College, Carmarthen. He won Wales caps at under-16 level in 2004; then under-18 in 2005 and under-19 in 2005 and 2006 and played for the under-20s in 2008. He joined Llanelli and then the Scarlets in 2006, but moved to Clermont-Auvergne for the 2014-15 season. He missed the 2015 World Cup with injury and returned to Wales to play for the Scarlets again in the summer of 2016. In December 2017 he was selected as the BBC TV’s Welsh Sportsman of the Year. Injury kept Jonathan out of the whole Six-Nations and summer games of 2018. In 2019 he played in all five matches of the Grand Slam and also was captain against Italy in Rome and scored a try against Scotland in Murrayfield. He played in the 2019 World Cup despite suffering further injury which led to him missing the 2020 Six-Nations and the 2021 games against Ireland and Scotland. In the summer of 2021 he captained Wales against Canada, Argentina (twice), New Zealand and South Africa. However, partly due to injury, he lost form and with it his place in the Wales squad. His brother, James, played for Carmarthen Quins and the Scarlets as a flanker and made a full debut for Wales in 2018.
