| Ian Gough made his Wales debut against South Africa in 1998 having represented his country at U19 level as well as appearing for Wales Youth and Wales A sides. He retained a squad position until 2002, made one appearance against Romania in 2003 and made a successful comeback to the intenational scene as a replacement in Wales's RBS Six Nations defeat of Italy in the Grand Slam winning year of 2005.
Gough was a constant figure in the 2006 RBS Six Nations and also toured Argentina in the summer of the same year. He was included in Gareth Jenkins's squad for the 2006 Invesco Perpetual Series, in which he played against Australia, Canada and New Zealand, and also played in every game of the 2007 RBS Six Nations.
Domestically, Gough played for Pontypridd and Newport before joining the regionalised Newport Gwent Dragons in 2003. Having spent four seasons with the region (eleven years in total at Rodney Parade including his spell at Newport RFC), Gough signed a three year contract with regional rivals the Ospreys in April 2007.
Having been rested from the squad to tour Australia for the two Tests Down Under, Gough was named in Gareth Jenkins's 41-man preliminary Rugby World Cup 2007 summer training squad in June and made the final cut in August. He played in both of Wales's Invesco Perpetual Summer Series matches against Argentina and France.
Gough played in three of Wales's Pool B matches at the Rugby World Cup, making the starting line-up against Canada and Australia and making a replacement appearance in the loss to Fiji.
In January 2008 Gough was included in Warren Gatland's Grand Slam winning RBS Six Nations side; he featured in every game of the successful campaign and gained his fiftieth cap for his country in the championship decider against France at the Millennium Stadium.
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