Few Championship legends were as easily recognisable in their playing days as Adam Jones – affectionately known as one of the ‘Hair Bears’ with front row colleague and namesake Duncan.
With his mane of curly hair, the stocky Wales prop managed 44 Championship appearances in his century of international caps, winning an extraordinary three Grand Slams along the way.
Jones, 36, has not called time on his playing career just yet however and is still on the squad list at Harlequins in London – although as of this season he has focused on coaching the starting front row and second-team pack.
The Abercrave-born tighthead made a career out of being a textbook scrummager, set-piece master and ferocious maul defender, but in his first ever Championship clash he got a rare sight of the try-line to score his first of only two Wales tries.
“I’d played two warm-up games and then in the World Cup in 2003, but that was my first Wales try on my first appearance in the 2004 Championship,” Jones recalls.
“It was against Scotland in the left corner – I don’t know what on earth I was doing out there really, not doing my work I guess.
“Martyn Williams put me over and I’ve been taking stick for my dive ever since then, as I put my knees down first and landed a bit awkwardly.
“It was obviously an unbelievable feeling; I don’t score many tries and I remember the excitement so clearly.
“Scoring for your country is very special, although I got taken off a few minutes later so it was a bit of a bittersweet day.”
MOTHER KNOWS BEST
In the pantheon of Welsh rugby heroes, only six have won three Grand Slams in the famous red jersey.
Jones is in exalted company with the likes of teammates Gethin Jenkins and Ryan Jones, plus Gareth Edwards, JPR Williams and Gerald Davies who came before him in Wales’ golden era during the 1970s.
But while Wales struggled slightly when Jones was learning the game as a teenager, it was his mother June who cultivated his burning sense of national pride.
“You want to make your family proud and play for your country,” he said. “Anyone who has played with me will tell you I’m passionately Welsh, if someone slams Wales I get annoyed.
“But I remember watching Wales play in the 90s and it was hard because they weren’t very good – but my mother always drummed into me regardless of how we were doing that it was a massive honour to play for Wales.
“I remember in 1991, when Wales played France away, I said something bad about Wales and my mum gave me a clip around the ear. That stuck with me.
“So I’m so passionately proud to have played so many times for Wales. I didn’t come through any age-groups really, the under-21s was my first year.
“When I got my first Welsh cap I was thrilled with that and I just set myself little goals from there – I could never have predicted how successful we’d be.
“I was unbelievably fortunate to be a part of three Grand Slam-winning teams, only six of us have ever done it. You’re in pretty good company there, so I can’t have been that bad!” TURNING THE CORNER
Back-to-back French victories in the Championship had followed Wales’ Grand Slam effort in 2005, so there was only one team to beat in 2008.
And Jones recalls his country’s 29-12 success in Cardiff as one of his finest moments in the jersey.
Shane and Martyn Williams may have taken the game away from Les Bleus with their late tries, but ask Jones and he remembers the Wales forwards bullying their opponents to mark a changing of the guard.
He said: “It felt like we had turned a corner in that Championship. In the World Cup we were terrible, but Gats [Warren Gatland] came in with Shaun Edwards and put us in the right direction.
“When we beat France to win the Grand Slam it felt very special as a pack. Obviously we had the likes of Shane [Williams], but the forwards had started to grow up a bit.
“We did better in the scrums, our lineouts got a lot better, we were more physical and had big men like Ian Gough and Alun Wyn Jones – it was a great team.
“I remember France being five metres off our line and we pushed them off the ball in the scrum; that was something Wales hadn’t done for a long, long time.
“We knew we could dominate from there on.” FROM PLAYER TO SPECTATOR
Nowadays Jones chooses to stay in south-west London with his family to watch Wales’ NatWest 6 Nations exploits, with six-year-old daughter Isla and wife Nicole.
And despite playing commitments with Harlequins sometimes diverting his attention from the live action, he still relishes the chance to head back to Cardiff on occasion.
“I tend to watch the Championship now with my family, my wife and daughter, if it doesn’t clash with Harlequins’ games,” he said.
“I don’t really go over too much to watch now, although I did go over to a box in Cardiff for Wales against England last year and enjoyed a beer or two.
“Everything is so professional now, it’s so competitive. So once you get in there, you’ve always got to play like it’s your last time wearing the jersey in a Test match.
“Duncan Jones – a curly guy like me – always said that, so while it’s a little cliched you’ve got to take every individual game on its merits, as there’s always someone around the corner ready to take your shirt.”
