Lions just the start for Jones
WHEN Alun Wyn Jones lay in red confetti on the pitch at Sydney’s Olympic Stadium, having just led the Lions to a Test series win over Australia, the image appeared to represent a glorious conclusion and a career pinnacle.
Eight weeks on, that is not how the Ospreys and Wales lock sees it. He reflects on the episode with great pride, but that momentous feat is just a first step towards establishing a gold-plated c.v. to compare with those of his vaunted idols. What happened Down Under was merely part one in a trio of targets.
The 27-year-old attended the launch of the RaboDirect Pro12 League in Belfast this week as captain of his region and watched Leo Cullen, of Leinster, take centre stage with the trophy. It was a timely reminder that the endless chase for precious metal goes on.
Jones has had his hands on that particular prize in the past and he covets it once again, but his wish list extends further. After the Lions victory, he wants European success with the Ospreys and world domination with Wales.
‘ I know the Lions was a massive, once- in- a- lifetime thing, but there are other once-in-a-lifetime things that I haven’t experienced yet,’ he said. ‘People have won World Cups, Heineken Cups and Lions series and all I’ve won is a Lions series.
‘Luckily I’ve been involved in a Grand Slam and the semifinal of a World Cup, but there are things I haven’t achieved, so if I look back and think, “I did well there”, I might miss something ahead of me. I’m aware that a rugby player’s career is becoming shorter and these once-in-a-lifetime opportunities don’t come along too often, so I want more of them.
‘I still haven’t won a Heineken Cup or a World Cup. It’s a good start, though. I suppose I’m off the mark! But the icons I look up to are John Eales and Martin Johnson, who both won World Cups. I don’t want to be the next Eales or Johnson, I want to create my own c.v, so shelving what I’ve done and moving on to the next thing is part of that.’
Jones cannot quite shelve it yet, however, not while there is still such an afterglow from the Lions tour. So how does he look back on the epic episode when he was handed the captaincy once Sam Warburton and Paul O’Connell had been injured and Brian O’Driscoll dropped?
‘I was fortunate; it was a case of being in the right place at the right time,’ he said. ‘I was captain for that game after the best person for the job and the next best alternative were gone — out injured. But it’s not my fault I got selected.’
Surprisingly, Jones does not consider the 41-16 rout of the Wallabies in that remarkable final Test, when he led the cavalry charge with intensity, as his 2013 Lions highlight.
Instead, having raced to recover from injury in time to make the tour squad in the first place, that is what he recalls most fondly, along with the win against the Waratahs (‘my fourth Test’) when he discovered top form to seize a Test place. His over-riding memory at the final whistle in Sydney on July 6 was thinking, ‘Great, that’s the season over, I’m off work for a bit. I can have a break now’.
On his return he found the public euphoria overwhelming. ‘It’s almost been uncomfortable because people say, “Thanks for what you did for us, for our country”,’ said Jones. ‘I think people forget that we get paid. There are a lot of people doing a lot more for our country than us lot, chasing a ball around a park.’
There is a consensus view that the Lions’ success — founded on a core of 10 Welshmen in the starting XV for that last Test — will have a positive effect on the national game.
Asked if Wales could emerge as genuine contenders at the next World Cup, Jones winced. ‘I knew that was coming,’ he said. ‘I don’t know; it is still two years away. I don’t see why not — but I hope you don’t put that as the headline!’