Wales loosehead Jones set to stay at Dragons
WYN Jones is set to hand the Scarlets some good news after they lost his Wales teammate Jake Ball by agreeing a new deal to stay in Llanelli.
Loosehead prop Jones is out of contract this summer, but he is poised to extend his stay at Parc y Scarlets moving forwards.
The 28-year-old has been linked with French sides Stade Francais and Montpellier after some fine performances at Test level.
But TRP understands it was never a realistic proposition for Jones to move abroad as to do so would have meant an end to his international career.
“Obviously the more teams that are interested in you the better,” said Jones. “It is a compliment that people want your services, but I just want to keep playing, keep enjoying it and whatever will be, will be. Hopefully I can stay. I enjoy my rugby and concentrate on that.”
Jones has usurped Rob Evans as first-choice loosehead with the Scarlets and Wales. His decision to sit tight is a boost for Scarlets boss Glenn Delaney after lock Ball confirmed he is leaving Welsh rugby for a family reunion in Australia at the end of the season.
Ball’s wife Christie and his four children have been in the southern hemisphere for several months and the forward hasn’t even met his new son Max who was born at the end of November.
His decision to move on means Delaney is losing his best lock. The Scarlets are likely to sign a nonWelsh qualified player to replace him.
However, Delaney is also impressed with the young locking talent coming through the region.
“We’ve got some good youngsters getting good experience,” Ryan said.
“We’ll always have one eye on what’s needed to keep on making us better, but the focus for us now – and Jake has been at the centre of this – is getting knowledge into our young heads. One of the things I’ve wanted to do is get Jake on the field with these guys so they learn.
“We’ll keep on working with the young players. We’ve got Jac Price, Danny Drake and Morgan Jones who are coming through.”