Mark Jones (rugby union, born 1979)

Wales international rugby union footballer

Mark Anthony Jones (born 7 November 1979) is a Welsh professional rugby union coach and former player who played as a wing for the Scarlets and Wales. Since making his international debut for Wales in 2001, he won 47 caps and scored 13 tries. Since going into coaching, Jones has held head coaching jobs with Rotherham, RGC 1404 and the Namibia national team.

Jones was born in Builth Wells, Powys. As a youngster, as well as playing rugby, Jones was also a sprinter and once competed against future World Junior Athletics champion Christian Malcolm in a 100 metres final; Jones said his performance against Malcolm was the reason he gave up athletics for a career in rugby. He began his domestic career at Builth Wells Youth before joining the senior side. He was signed by Llandovery from Builth and in his first season of senior rugby was the highest try scorer in the Welsh League. Jones joined Llanelli in 1997 and remained at the club until his retirement in 2010. Jones has represented Wales at U18, U19 and U20 levels and made his first team debut for Wales as a replacement against England in the 2001 Lloyds TSB Six Nations.

During the 2005–06 season, Jones won six international caps and scored three tries. This was after consecutive knee injuries and major reconstructive surgery saw him ruled out of Wales contention since the 2003 Rugby World Cup. Jones scored seven tries for the Scarlets during the 2006–07 season, three of which came in the region's Heineken Cup run, including one in the semi final loss to the Leicester Tigers. Jones appeared for Wales in the 2007 Six Nations against Scotland, Italy and in the sole victory over England. In June, Jones was named in Gareth Jenkins's 41 man preliminary Rugby World Cup 2007 summer training squad after being rested from the two Test tour to Australia. Jones made the final 30 man cut for the World Cup squad in August and played in Wales' warm up matches ahead of the tournament, scoring a try against Argentina. Jones appeared for Wales in the Rugby World Cup in pool matches against Canada and Australia. He also played in the final Pool B encounter, scoring a try in Wales's defeat at the hands of Fiji, which saw them eliminated from the tournament. In November 2007 Jones was selected by caretaker coach Nigel Davies in the line up to face world champions South Africa in the Prince William Cup at the Millennium Stadium. New Wales head coach Warren Gatland included Jones in his Grand Slam winning 2008 Six Nations squad. He played in four matches, only missing the game against Scotland, and almost scored a try in the championship decider against France, stopped just short of the line after a break. In July 2009, it was announced that Jones was to be handed the captaincy for the Scarlets' 2009–10 season. However, he tore cartilage in his knee while on Wales duty in November 2009, and was ruled out for at least three months. In March 2010, he was ruled out for the remainder of the season, and in April, he expressed concerns that the injury might force him into retirement. He eventually retired from the game in August 2010, bringing to an end a 12 year career. He played 163 times for the Scarlets, including appearances for Llanelli RFC in the pre regional era, scoring 85 tries.

Following his retirement, Jones was announced as a skills coach for the Scarlets region on a two year contract. This saw him coach skills both at first team level and with a wider responsibility within the Premiership teams, Academy and age grade pathways for the region. He also accompanied Robin McBryde on the 2013 tour of Japan. In 2015 he became head coach of the Rotherham Titans in the Championship, taking over from Lee Blackett. He departed in 2016, with Titans chairman Nick Cragg describing Jones as "a quality individual for whom we have the greatest respect" but stating that "results over the last three months have not been what we would have wished them to be and both parties have agreed that now is the time for change". Jones was critical of WRU plans in 2017 to include regional A and under 23 sides in the new Celtic Cup, stating that it devalued Welsh club rugby and threatened the existence of semi professional teams. He told WalesOnline that he would continue to seek a coaching role, ideally at a PRO14 Welsh regional side. In January 2020 Jones surprised rugby pundits when he announced he was moving to Christchurch and joining the coaching setup at the Super Rugby side Crusaders on a two year deal. Jones will serve as defence coach under head coach Scott Robertson and be running the attack and the backs with Canterbury, moving to New Zealand in 2020 after spending Christmas in Wales. In his interview upon joining the side, he described the South Island team as "the best rugby organisation in the world".