Winning is everything for warrior Jones, even during Pivac’s period of transition
Talismanic captain tells James Corrigan that Wales are walking a fine line as they reinvent themselves
At 6ft 6in and 19st and with 146 caps across 14 seasons, Alun Wyn Jones has always shown a particular glee in standing up and being counted. And for the Wales captain, Saturday at Twickenham will be one of those days when it will be time to put up or shut up and deal with the consequences.
There is a definite sense that should the burgeoning reign of Wayne Pivac suffer another setback, the questions will start to swirl. In 12 Six Nations campaigns as Wales coach, Warren Gatland never lost three successive championship games in the same season. That is the horrible hat-trick facing Pivac should Wales follow defeats by Ireland and France with another against England.
“Warren is not here,” Jones said with characteristic bluntness when that statistic was mentioned this week. “But it is uncharted territory the players do not want to go into and the pressure is on and it is England away and does not get any easier. This is Wayne’s first campaign but Warren, while he had a first campaign, had 12 years to establish himself. From the coaches’ point of view, you cannot compare.”
Except they will and Jones knows they will. That is Welsh rugby, the so-called goldfish bowl where piranhas are only too happy to circulate when the water gets choppy. Everybody will recall, for instance, that in the opening Six Nations year of the previous regime – in 2008 – Wales went to Twickenham as no-hopers and ended the 20-year barren run their on the way to a Grand Slam and a dozen years of Gatland garlands.
As Jones, 34, pointed out, comparisons can be odious, especially when there were so many calling for this new, more expansive Welsh approach in which Pivac has been entrusted. But Jones is also acutely aware that promise and potential does not begin to butter the laver bread.
“Three games in, a decent start at home [42-0 against Italy] but if you look at the two games since, the errors in the Irish game [which they lost 24-14] compounded themselves and in territory and possession we lost the ascendancy,” Jones said.
“All credit to France for the way they played [in their 23-27 win]. We created a lot of opportunities and while that can look good, you have to take them. Test rugby is about winning and we have not done that. The performances in patches have been pleasing, but only to a point. It is only pleasing when you win.
“In the past people asked for this change and we heard those noises in the background,” Jones added. “But I said from the outset [of this campaign] that change is no excuse and there are a large proportion of players [from last year’s Six Nations and the World Cup semi-final] still here.
“I take my responsibility and my performance as an individual first … then as captain … then as part of a team. Peel the facades and veneers away and that is the first port of call. Then you have to be process driven. It sounds robotic but you can see the way we are trying to play is not robotic – we are trying to play heads up and develop the style of play Wayne wants. “That is a positive, but we are scrutinised, and rightly so, by the scoreboard. Against France, we did a lot of creation but not a lot of capitalisation. We have to maintain fortitude and be process driven without being shackled by fear. It is a fine balance.”
Jones will be at the visitors’ vanguard in the build-up to the England game.
“Having been in the England-Wales week a few times, we know what is coming,” Jones said with a smile. “It is always ‘big’. England got the bit between their teeth in the last game [against Ireland] and they are putting the pieces together to be the complete team they showed they were in the World Cup. “It is pretty rudimentary, not the way they play but in the way they impose themselves.
“The nature of the beast means it alters a bit when you cross the Bridge. It really is something to enjoy.”