Fit-again Alun Wyn Jones has backed Wales to showcase their strength in depth over the course of the 2021 Guinness Six Nations as they bid to improve on last year’s fifth-placed finish.
The 35-year-old is back in training as he steps up his recovery from the knee injury sustained against Italy in the Autumn Nations Cup – a tournament which saw Wales’ talismanic captain become the most capped player in the history of international rugby.
He looks set to add to his 152 Test appearances in Wales’ Championship opener against Ireland in Cardiff on February 7 and believes his side can build on the signs of promise they displayed over the autumn.
“I’ve been running for two or three weeks and I’m back in team training,” said the Wales captain, speaking at the 2021 Guinness Six Nations virtual launch.
“I’ve progressed really well, so I will await (news on) selection.
“Over the last 12 months, there has been a change in regime and we’ve experienced a bit of everything. We had a lot of new caps in the (Autumn) Nations Cup campaign and, in parts, performances were pleasing but we were disappointed with the results.
“We come into this campaign with a strong squad and another layer of players who can be called upon to strengthen us if required.
“Any captain will say they want the Championship but performances come first and we have to build on those to get the results.”
Wales head coach Wayne Pivac, preparing for his second Championship at the helm, shared his skipper’s eagerness to get stuck into competitive international rugby once more.
“For us personally, within the Welsh camp, this is something we are really looking forward to,” Pivac said.
“We clearly want to do better than we did last year and we need to, so our focus has been on improving our performances and making sure we perform for 80 minutes throughout this competition.
“In the Autumn Nations Cup, we gave some different players opportunities so now we have built some depth.
“We have those guys to call on going forward if we pick up injuries and they are more experienced having gone through that process.
“We are in a good space now so we need to launch from here and put those performances in on the park.”
Wales were Grand Slam winners in 2019 but won just once in last year’s Championship, a 42-0 victory over Italy at Principality Stadium in Round 1.
Pivac believes the new year could bring a fresh start for Wales if they are able to address areas in which the head coach has highlighted the need to improve.
“It’s a matter of where and when we want to move a bit of ball,” he said.
“There will clearly be games when we have to play for field position. We probably played a little bit too much in the last campaign at times. Our set piece was a concern against Scotland and Ireland (last autumn).
“It progressed and got better as the tournament went on but it’s something we are doing a lot of work on in training – and we’ll continue to do so to make sure we have a platform to operate from.
“No matter what you do in attack, if you don’t have a platform it makes it very difficult. In some games, we didn’t string a lot of phases together so we didn’t build a lot of pressure.
“Clearly it’s a big driver for us to improve in that area – as well as across the board.”
Pivac went on to confirm that scrum-half Tomos Williams, lock Cory Hill and prop Wyn Jones are all progressing well as they recover from injuries, with no replacements called in to the 36-man squad.
