Iestyn Harris

Iestyn Harris

Harris while playing for Bradford in 2007
Personal information
Full name	Iestyn Rhys Harris
Nickname	The Welsh Wizard
Born	25 June 1976 (1976-06-25) Oldham, Greater Manchester, England
Playing information
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight	14 st 6 lb (92 kg)
Rugby league
Position	Stand-off, Fullback
Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
1993–1997	Warrington	92	37	182	4	516
1997–2001	Leeds Rhinos	139	65	594	7	1455
2004–2008	Bradford	121	36	92	2	330
2009	Featherstone	19	5	19	1	59
	Total	371	143	887	14	2360
Representative
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
1995–2007	Wales	18	12	48	1'	145
1996–2005	Great Britain	13	2	10	0'	127
Rugby union
Position	Fly-half, Inside centre
Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
2001–2003	Cardiff RFC	59				437
2003–2004	Cardiff Blues	10	0	33	0	82
	Total	69	0	33	0	519
Representative
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
2001–2004	Wales	25	1	41	0	108
Coaching information
Club
Years	Team	Gms	W	D	L	W%
2011–2011	Crusaders	0	0	0	0
2009–	Wales RL	3	3	0	0	100
	Total	3	3	0	0	100
Source: Rugby League Project

Iestyn Rhys Harris (born 25 June 1976) is a Welsh former rugby league footballer, who is currently the assistant coach at Wigan Warriors. Harris is a former Man of Steel winner and has also represented Wales on numerous occasions at both codes of rugby. He was named coach of the Wales national rugby league team toward the end of the 2009 season after finishing his playing career at Featherstone Rovers to move onto Crusaders as assistant.

Family

Harris was born in Oldham, Greater Manchester. His Abercarn-born grandfather Norman Harris played for Ebbw Vale, Pontypool and Newbridge before heading north to win eight Welsh caps under league rules.

Personal life

Harris lives in Todmorden, West Yorkshire. He has a sister, Rhian (whose children are Dewi and Emrys), and is married to Becky Harris with whom he has a daughter, Catrin. He also has a younger son.

He set up RLPredictor.com, a rugby league prediction website, but it failed to take off and is now non-operational.

Early Rugby League career

Warrington

Harris' professionally career began with league club Warrington at age 17 in 1993 before a record-breaking £350,000 transfer to Leeds Rhinos in 1997.

Leeds Rhinos

Harris was made captain of Leeds in his first full season at the club at the age of twenty one, and became the first Leeds skipper in a decade to lift silverware when Leeds claimed the 1999 Challenge Cup.

Harris initially played at full back before being switched to stand-off. In 1998, despite having played most of his games at fullback, he was named at Stand-off/Five-eighth in 1998's Super League III Dream Team and also collected the annual Man of Steel trophy as the best player in Super League. A superb goal-kicker, he broke the club record for goals in a season in 1999 with 168, he was named at Stand-off/Five-eighth in 1999's [[Super League IV] Dream Team, and broke the 2,000 career points total two years later.

Harris holds the joint record for scoring the most points in a Challenge Cup Final, he scored 20-points (1-try and 8-goals) in Leeds Rhinos victory over London Broncos in the 1999 Challenge Cup Final. This feat equalled the record set by Neil Fox (2-tries and 7-goals) in Wakefield Trinity's victory over Hull in the 1960 Challenge Cup Final.

Cardiff and Wales RU

In 2001, Harris made a £1.5 million switch to Cardiff RFC and Wales.

Harris made his début for the Welsh side on 10 November 2001, playing against Argentina in Cardiff; Wales lost 16–30. Having played only 200 minutes of rugby union before his international début, Harris struggled, particularly with his tactical kicking. This led to a move from fly-half to inside centre, where he could be creative with less pressure.

World Cup 2003

Harris played in the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia where Wales lost in the quarter-finals to eventual winners, England, despite leading the game for 60 minutes. Harris won 25 Wales caps as a union player but made it clear that he wanted to return to League.

Return to Rugby League

Bradford Bulls

In 2004, Harris returned to rugby league, citing family reasons. He joined the Bradford Bulls after a contractual fight with former club Leeds. His salary was reputed to be £1 million over 4 seasons.

Harris wrote a book, published in October 2005, detailing his moves between codes called Iestyn Harris: There and Back – My Journey from League to Union and Back Again. Harris was part of the 2005 Bradford Bulls squad that became the first side in the history of Super League to win the Grand Final when finishing third in the final league ladder.

Harris was Bradford Bulls captain for one year in 2006 taking over from Leeds-bound Jamie Peacock. In his time as captain Bradford Bulls won the 2006 Carnegie World Club Challenge after defeating 2005's Australian Champions, the Wests Tigers. On 10 May 2006, Harris announced he would be retiring from playing international rugby league with Great Britain, just a week after being named in a 36-strong training squad for a June 2006 Test against New Zealand. Harris, who won the last of his 15 caps against Australia in November 2005, says he wanted to concentrate on his club career. On 26 September 2006, he confirmed that he would continue to play for Wales, and was scheduled to return to the side against Scotland at the Brewery Field, Bridgend in the 2008 Rugby League World Cup qualifying match on Sunday 29 October 2006. He was forced to pull out through injury hours before kick-off.

Harris kicked a club record 15 goals against Toulouse Olympique in a record 98 – 6 win on 19 April 2008. Harris had been linked to a player-coach role with Crusaders, but he decided to sign for National League One club Featherstone Rovers instead.

Featherstone Rovers

Harris signed a 2 year deal at Featherstone Rovers, as well as playing, he also took his first steps into coaching and working in the marketing department of the club. On announcement of his tenure as assistant coach to Brian Noble at Celtic Crusaders, he agreed termination of his contract at Featherstone Rovers and an immediate end to his playing career.

Coaching career

Wales National Rugby League National team

While still playing for the Bradford Bulls, Harris was appointed Wales Assistant Coach on 18 June 2008. On 22 September 2009, Harris was appointed Wales's rugby league head coach, succeeding John Dixon. Appointed alongside Harris were the more experienced Kevin Ellis and Clive Griffiths, and the trio's first match was against England on 17 October, which they lost 48–12.

Crusaders Rugby League

On October 14, 2009, Harris was announced as assistant coach to Brian Noble at Wales-based Crusaders Rugby League, alongside Jon Sharp. After a year as assistant it was announced in November 2010 that Harris would take over as Head Coach of Crusaders Rugby League following the resignation of Brian Noble. His first official game in charge will be against the Salford City Reds on Sunday 13 February in the opening round of the Super League. The game will be played at the Millennium Stadium as part of the Magic Weekend.

Statistics

Club career

Year	Club	Apps	Pts	T	G	FG
1993–94	Warrington Wolves	10	54	4	19	–
1994–95	Warrington Wolves	39	148	18	38	–
1995–96	Warrington Wolves	23	156	11	55	2
1996	Warrington Wolves	18	152	4	67	2
1997	Warrington Wolves	2	6	-	3	–
1997	Leeds Rhinos	25	183	7	77	1
1998	Leeds Rhinos	26	275	13	110	3
1999	Leeds Rhinos	31	343	18	135	1
2000	Leeds Rhinos	23	252	11	106	–
2001	Leeds Rhinos	18	185	8	76	1
2001–02	Cardiff RFC	-	-	-	-	–
2002–03	Cardiff RFC	-	-	-	-	–
2003–04	Cardiff Blues	-	-	-	-	–
2004	Bradford Bulls	13	30	6	3	-
2005	Bradford Bulls	32	104	17	17	2
2006	Bradford Bulls	30	42	5	11	–
2007	Bradford Bulls	22	72	5	26	–
2008	Bradford Bulls	11	8	-	4	-
2009	Featherstone Rovers	19	59	5	19	1

Representative career

Year	Team	Matches	Tries	Goals	Field Goals	Points
1995	Wales (RL)	?	?	?	?	?
1999	Great Britain	1	1	1	0	6
2000	Wales (RL)	1	0	0	0	0
2001	Wales (RU)	3	0	0	0	0
2002	Wales (RU)	7	0	0	0	0
2003	Wales (RU)	11	0	0	0	0
2004	Wales (RU)	4	0	0	0	0
2004	Great Britain	3	0	2	0	4
2005	Great Britain	3	0	8	0	16

External links

• Bradford Bulls profile
• Wales Rugby Union profile
• Statistics at englandrl.co.uk
• Welsh Records
• Profile at leedsrugby
• Warrington's World Cup heroes – Iestyn Harris