Ioan Nicholas

Born on 3 April 1998, Ioan Nicholas is a Welsh outside back who has spent the bulk of his professional career with the Scarlets in Llanelli. A product of the region's development pathway, he progressed through age-grade rugby in west Wales before earning selection for Wales at under-20 level, an early marker of the attacking threat he carried into the senior game. Nicholas is at home anywhere across the back three, and his adaptability has made him a regular option for successive Scarlets coaching teams. Quick off the mark and difficult to pin down in broken field, he looks to attack space rather than contact, and his footwork allows him to beat the first defender from deep. Aerially he is dependable, competing for restarts and contesting the high ball under pressure, while his positional reading helps the Scarlets defuse the kicking game that dominates modern United Rugby Championship fixtures. Within the squad he functions as both starter and impact replacement, a player coaches can move between wing and full-back without loss of shape. That flexibility, combined with a willingness to take on defenders, has kept him in the mix through several rebuilding cycles at Parc y Scarlets and made him a useful continuity figure in a young Welsh backline.