Mark Jones (rugby union, born 1979)
| Birth name | Mark Anthony Jones | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 7 November 1979 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Builth Wells, Wales | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 91 kg (14 st 5 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Builth Wells High School | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Mark Anthony Jones (born 7 November 1979 in Builth Wells, Powys) is a former Welsh rugby union footballer who played on the wing for the Scarlets and Wales. Since making his international debut for Wales, he won 47 caps and scored 13 tries.
Jones began his domestic career at Builth Wells Youth before joining the senior side. He was signed by Llandovery from Builth and in his first season of senior rugby was the highest try scorer in the Welsh League. Jones joined Llanelli in 1997 and remained at the club until his retirement in 2010. Jones has represented Wales at U18, U19 and U20 levels and made his first team debut for Wales as a replacement against England in the 2001 Lloyds TSB Six Nations.
2005–2006 was a great season for Jones, as he won six international caps and scored three tries. This was after consecutive knee injuries, and major reconstructive surgery, saw him ruled out of the international arena since the 2003 Rugby World Cup.
Jones scored seven tries for the Scarlets during the 2006–2007 season, three of which came in the region's Heineken Cup endeavour, including one in the semi-final loss to the Leicester Tigers.
Jones appeared for Wales in the RBS 2007 Six Nations against Scotland, Italy and in the sole victory over England. In June, Jones was named in Gareth Jenkins's 41-man preliminary Rugby World Cup 2007 summer training squad after being rested from the two Test tour to Australia. Jones made the final 30-man cut for the RWC squad in August and played in Wales's Invesco Perpetual Summer Series, scoring a try against Argentina.
Jones appeared for Wales in the Rugby World Cup in Pool matches against Canada and Australia. He also played in the final Pool B encounter, scoring a try in Wales's defeat at the hands of the Fijians. In November 2007 Jones was selected by Caretaker Coach Nigel Davies in the line-up to face world champions South Africa in the Prince William Cup at the Millennium Stadium.
New Wales Coach Warren Gatland included Jones in his Grand Slam winning 2008 RBS Six Nations squad. He played in four matches, against England, Italy, Ireland and France, and almost scored a try for his country in the latter championship decider against France, being stopped just short of the line after a superb break.
In July 2009, it was announced that Jones was to be handed the captaincy for the Scarlets' 2009–10 season.[1]
Jones was forced to retire through injury in August 2010. Jones who took over from Simon Easterby as captain the previous season, received final confirmation from medics that his playing days are over. The news and decision to retire had been a difficult one for him, as he felt he still had plenty to give as a player both with his region and for Wales. Jones enjoyed 12 seasons with the Scarlets and was granted a testimonial year by his region during the last year. A career Scarlet, Jones played 164 times for his region and scored 425 points (85 tries). He played his first Scarlets game against Saracens on 26 August 1998. He has won 47 caps for Wales, scoring 13 tries for his country and was part of the Grand Slam winning team in 2008. Following his retirement, Jones was announced as a skills coach for the region on a two-year contract . This will see him coach skills both at first-team level and with a wider responsibility within the Premiership teams, Academy and age-grade pathways for the region.
References
- ^ "Scarlets hand captaincy to Jones". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 7 July 2009. Retrieved 13 July 2009.
External links
- Profile at scarlets.co.uk
- Profile at wru.co.uk
- Profile at scrum.com
- BBC – Mid Wales – Hall of Fame
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