Ex-Wales rugby player Alun Carter, who came from Newport, has died at the age of 59.

The former Pontypool and Newport flanker, who won two caps for Wales in 1991, died while out on a walk.

Carter had a 15-year senior career with more than 300 first class games until April 1999. He also represented the Barbarians, British Police and Combined Service, Welsh Students and Police, Monmouthshire, Crawshays and Welsh Academics.  

Alun Carter, second from left, celebrates after being selected to win his first cap for Wales against England in 1991 with Neil Jenkins, Glen George and Scott GibbsAlun Carter, second from left, celebrates after being selected to win his first cap for Wales against England in 1991 with Neil Jenkins, Glen George and Scott Gibbs (Image: File)

For five years, he served as a policeman on the beat in the Gwent force while playing for Newport before going onto become a renowned lead analyst for Wales. 

After securing a first-class honours degree in Sport and Human Movement Studies as a mature student at South Glamorgan Institute, he became an applied researcher working for the Centre of Performance Analysis – his first international work where he was an analyst at the 1994 FIFA World Cup.  

In the 1996 Olympics, he worked with Great Britain’s women’s hockey side in Atlanta, Georgia. Then in 1998, he joined the Welsh Rugby Union as a lead analyst for the men's side.  

At this time, he went on to work alongside six Welsh national coaches in Kevin Bowring, Sir Graham Henry, Sir Steve Hansen, Mike Ruddock, Scott Johnson and Gareth Jenkins.  

He also joined Henry’s British & Irish Lions back-room staff for the 2001 tour to Australia and in 2005 he played a vital role in Wales winning their first Six Nations Grand Slams in 27 years.  

In 2014, he worked as a team manager at Worcester Warriors once again working alongside Ruddock for five years before becoming director of rugby at Pontypool until January 2025.  

He then spent six years outside rugby managing Littlewood Group to deliver solar pharm projects across England and Wales and then industrial style fencing projects including for HS2.  

For the last four years he has been a lecturer and employability lead in Sport Performance Analysis at Cardiff School of Sport and Health Sciences at Cardiff Metropolitan University.