Wales star aiming for Test return after a ‘frustrating’ few years

New Harlequins recruit Wyn Jones is still dreaming of a return to the Wales squad in the near future after a torrid spell with injury in recent years.

The former Scarlets man has won 48 caps for his country since his debut in 2016, but has not featured on the Test stage since last year’s Six Nations.

Despite an extended period away from the national side, he told members of the media that fire still burns bright.

“[My international ambitions] will always remain whilst I’m playing,” he said. “As a player, you always want to play to the highest standard you can. I think the day I don’t want to (play for Wales) is the day I’ll hang my boots up.

“I don’t overthink it (getting back into the squad) but you always want to play to the highest standard you can and that’ll always be what I want to do.”

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Jones rapidly saw his stock rise in 2021, playing a key role in Wales’ Six Nations triumph that year, and his form earned him a call-up to the British and Irish Lions squad for the tour of South Africa.

After impressing in the midweek fixtures, he was drafted into the squad for Test two against the Springboks, and later started in the decider at Ellis Park.

He has struggled with injuries since, namely to his shoulder and back, and he opened up on a ‘tough’ few years since.

“It’s been tough, I’ve probably gone from knock to knock,” he admitted.

“That third Lions Test, I was nowhere near fit but that’s a game you could never turn down and I still think it was 100% the right decision to play; but probably after that game I should have put my hand up and said ‘I’m not fit to play for a while’. I just battled on, and hindsight is a wonderful thing, but I should have had a few months off to sort the shoulder and back out.”

Following his exit from the Scarlets last season, Jones has had an extended break and he said this has helped him fix his injury issues to return to full fitness.

“That’s been a frustrating factor, but now I actually feel just as good as when I went on the Lions tour. My body is all in one piece and I just want to play rugby,” he said.

“I’m enjoying it as much as ever now. That’s the main thing, if I’m not enjoying it that’s when I’ll stop playing. With the extended break and with how I feel I really want to play rugby.”

‘A new challenge’

If Jones wants to make a return to the national side, he will need to impress for his new employers, Harlequins.

He left Parc y Scarlets at the end of last season without a deal on the table, but has since been snapped up by the Londoners due to Joe Marler’s broken foot.

Whilst he has come in as injury cover, Jones is looking forward to getting things going in the famous quarters.

“It was all quite last minute to be honest, it happened quite sharply and quite quickly. I’m happy to be here, though, I’ve had a great welcome so far and I’m excited to be here,” he said.

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“I didn’t expect to get a deal this quick to be honest. It always had to be the right place for me, but when I heard about Harlequins it was a definite yes from me.

“I’d been there (at the Scarlets) a long time, but for me I just wanted a new experience and a new challenge.”

Differences between the Premiership and the Welsh regions

A lot has been made of the Premiership’s financial issues, but the Welsh regions have also struggled in recent times.

Players are flooding out of the four regions as central funding continues to be reduced, and Jones detailed the stark differences between the squad numbers at Premiership clubs and Wales.

“It’s very different (between Quins and Scarlets),” he said. “We have at least three packs out there training all the time and you can do plenty of reps. We have full sessions where we can hit 12, 15, 20 scrums, and that’s a luxury you don’t have in the regions; you either hit the machine or go 5-on-5 if you have enough personnel to do so.

He added: “I speak to a few of the boys back there and they haven’t done a lot of live scrums because they haven’t got the numbers. To be able to do that here, with such quality around you, that’s why I wanted to come here.”

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