Mike Phillips is a combative, powerful scrum half whose aggressive presence on the field adds a steely determination to the Wales team. Phillips made his international debut in 2003 against Romania whilst understudy to Dwayne Peel at Llanelli Scarlets.

His early international career was also spent in the shadow of Peel, with first team opportunities limited until injury ruled Peel out of the 2005 clash with the All Blacks at the Millennium Stadium. Phillips' big chance proved to be a false start, as he turned in a stuttering performance in a heavy 41-3 defeat. Earlier in the year Phillips had made the switch to Cardiff Blues from Llanelli, and was in fine form at club level.

Despite his poor performance in the Autumn Internationals, Phillips was selected as cover for Peel during the 2006 Six Nations. Following and injury to Peel against Italy, Phillips put in a Man of the Match performance against France at the Millennium Stadium. Showing the devastating running lines and power that his 6'3" frame can bring to the international game, Phillips decimated the French defence and finally showed the form that he had been in at domestic level.

The return of Peel for the Autumn Internationals in 2006 meant that Phillips was again relegated to the bench for the 2007 Six Nations. At the start of the 2006/7 season Phillips had made a high profile move to the big spending Ospreys, with his contract rumoured to be worth £180,000 a year.

His competition with Justin Marshall at club level translated to international, as he continued to scrap with Peel for the 9 jersey. Phillips was selected in Gareth Jenkins' squad for the World Cup in 2007, but again found his opportunities limited to those from the replacements bench despite wavering form from Peel.

Phillips' fortunes would change under the new Wales coaching setup, with Warren Gatland selecting him for the 2008 Six Nations opener against England. Phillips scored the decisive try following his own charge down, and remained first choice scrum half for the rest of the tournament.

His performances marked him out as one of the players of the tournament and also as a potential Lions tourist in 2009. Phillips was unable to travel on Wales' summer tour to South Africa following sustaining a tear to the anterior cruciate ligament and a grade-two tear to the medial collateral ligament in the Ospreys Anglo-Welsh Cup semi-final win over Saracens.

Phillips recovered from injury to play a part in Wales' unsuccessful Six Nations defence and was selected for the 2009 Lions tour of South Africa. He won selection for all three Tests and capped a fine display in the first match with the Lions' third try. Even though the Lions went down 2-1 in the series, Phillips was widely regarded as one of the Lions' best players on tour. Following his return Phillips found himself in trouble with the law after an altercation with a taxi driver, an incident that lead Wales coach Neil Jenkins to warn him over his future in the international setup.

An ankle injury ruled out any participation in Wales' November series but he was rushed back for a spot on the replacements bench as they took on France in February 2010. He was an unused option, with Richie Rees making his debut to good effect. Soon after he signed a new four-year deal with the Ospreys.

Scrum Staff