Put Wales, Jones and sex symbols into the Google search engine and it is hardly a surprise when the names of Catherine Zeta and Tom pop up on the screen. But look closely and there among the heart-throbs is the name of Ryan Jones, Wales rugby international and apparently all-round hunk.
The reason? The 25-year-old Ospreys No 8 topped a poll in a newspaper survey last month to be acclaimed the sexiest man in Wales, much to his embarrassment and no doubt much to the chagrin of Gavin Henson. Indeed, Jones was as taken aback as everyone else to have eclipsed Charlotte Church’s boyfriend. “He’s been sulking a lot,” Jones joked. “I had to cheer him up. ‘Gav,’ I said, ‘I don’t understand how I won it. Even my missus voted for you.’ ”
Jones belongs to the school of rugged good looks that befits a man in his position, who lives and dies by the intensity of the collisions and the enjoyment of battle. The craggy features are apparently what make women go weak at the knees. Jones did his fair share of that — making opponents go weak at the knees — on the rugby field when he first arrived on the scene. Now New Zealand are in his sights tomorrow.
He was a latecomer to the sport, having played as a youth team goalkeeper with Bristol City until the age of 14. He made his debut for Wales two years ago against South Africa, was a revelation in Wales’s grand slam of 2005 and when he was called up by Sir Clive Woodward for the Lions as a replacement in New Zealand, proved a star turn against the All Blacks in a lost cause.
However, his meteoric rise was abruptly interrupted for 18 months by “core instability” in a shoulder that required an operation and a long period of recuperation. “One thing the injury taught me is you don’t know what is around the corner,” Jones, who wins his eleventh cap tomorrow, said. “You have to make the most of the here and now.
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“With the injury, I went from such a high to nine weeks sitting at home with my arm in a sling watching daytime TV. There’s no substitute for playing in front of 80,000 people. Going to Tesco isn’t quite the same.”
He will be facing the All Blacks for the fifth time, having appeared as a substitute two years ago when Wales almost overturned half a century of hurt before losing by a point, as well as his three Lions caps. He knows the strength of their back row — the hallowed trio of McCaw, Collins and So’oialo — and what they bring to New Zealand. Not that Jones will be intimidated as he, Martyn Williams and Jonathan Thomas are no slouches.
“The breakdown will be a big battle. If we can win that or get parity, there is no reason we can’t do well,” he said. “You have to stand up and be counted. You can’t lay down and curl up.
“We have tried to approach it as any other game. There’s no point getting worked up. There is an aura about them but nothing they haven’t earned. Times, though, have changed. They’re not fitter than us any more, not stronger. We can all pass, kick, tackle and run; it is about playing with a bit of upstairs and self-belief. You have to have a certain arrogance on the field, especially against New Zealand.”
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