NOTHING less became Ryan Jones’ outstanding rugby career than the way it ended. His chronic shoulder injury was one setback too many after he repeatedly overcame every obstacle that coaches, administrators and his own body put in the way.
Jones has had to retire at 34, having been Warren Gatland’s first captain when the New Zealander began coaching Wales in 2008. Gatland’s dictum that he would judge a player by how he dealt with disappointment could have been said with Jones in mind.
It also tied in with something Jones’ father Steve told him: “You define a man by how he deals with lows in his life.” As Jones Jr said last week, he has had “wonderful highs and big lows”.
When Gatland was brought in after the calamity of the 2007 World Cup — a “big low” for Jones not because of Wales’ premature exit but because he was absent injured — Jones soared straight to cloud nine.
He was soon Wales’ 2008 Grand Slam captain and by the time Gatland relieved him of this responsibility in 2010 he had exceeded Ieuan Evans’ record by doing the job 33 times. Sam Warburton, who became Jones’ successor, has surpassed him to reach 35.
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Jones, a versatile back-rower who also gave some decent performances in the second row, made 150 appearances and won four Celtic titles for the Ospreys before ending his career after 15 games of what he had hoped would be a valedictory move to Bristol.
But none of this might have occurred if the original format of regional rugby in Wales had been maintained at five teams rather than the officially inspired demise of Celtic Warriors, the Bridgend-Pontypridd franchise of which Jones was a founder member. When the Warriors were killed off for financial reasons after a solitary season, the remaining four regions were left to pick over the carcass. The Ospreys swooped and got themselves a bargain.
Jones led the Ospreys until his coaches at the Liberty stadium decided combining club and country was too much — a view that has always been taken of Warburton and, over the past year, of the England captain Chris Robshaw as well.
The 2005 British & Irish Lions in New Zealand provided another example of Jones’ indomitable spirit. He replaced the injured Scot Simon Taylor and showed against Otago he should have been in New Zealand all along.
Clive Woodward was unable to explain why Jones was excluded in the first place. The former England coach’s selection of players mainly from his own country meant Jones was chosen only as a replacement in the first Test. Jones provided a glimmer of light on a very dark tour, starting the second and third Tests when the Lions were taken apart. To do so well in such straits was, as it turned out, perfectly attuned with the Gatland philosophy. And his dad’s.
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It was as well Jones made that Lions tour because he was again left out when they went to South Africa in 2009. His eventual involvement — a call-up from Wales’ tour of north America aborted after 24 hours in Cape Town because he was concussed — was a farce of poor communication and misinformation.
At least he still had Wales and the Ospreys, and if ever an individual earned esteem by the consistency of his performance, it was Jones. His 75 caps are a monument to the contribution he made to Wales. He was a mentor and example to others.
What is more, his part in three Welsh Grand Slams (2005, 2008 and 2012) place him in an elite category with five other men — Gareth Edwards, Gerald Davies, JPR Williams, Gethin Jenkins and Adam Jones.
But Jones is inevitably remembered for Gatland’s removal of the captaincy when, 10 months out, the honour of leading Wales to the 2011 World Cup appeared to be his. Much flowed from Gatland’s abrupt decision, as soon as Wales had drawn with Fiji. The coach called the game an embarrassment and, even before his demotion to the ranks, Jones’ misery was profound as the culprit who conceded the final Fijian penalty. Matthew Rees, became captain and Warburton followed at the end of that season.
Jones never disguised his mortification at the indignity inflicted on him then, though his contribution never diminished.
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If it is probably modest consolation amid the crushing blow of an enforced retirement four years later, Welsh success at the 2011 tournament was an indirect consequence.
The reconstituted Wales back row of Warburton, Dan Lydiate and Taulupe Faletau left Jones without a principal’s role and they remain Gatland’s choice for the 2015 World Cup – just when Jones had hoped in vain that he would be driving Bristol’s latest push towards the Premiership.