Ryan Paul Jones (born 13 March 1981) is a

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

former international

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player who played at number eight, blindside flanker or second row. He was involved in three

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

wins, in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, as captain in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, and

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

. He is one of a small group of Welsh players to have won three Grand Slams including

Gerald Davies Thomas Gerald Reames Davies CBE DL (born 7 February 1945 in Llansaint) is a Welsh former rugby union wing who played international rugby for Wales between 1966 and 1978. He is one of a small group of Welsh players to have won three Grand Slams ...

Gareth Edwards Sir Gareth Owen Edwards CBE (born 12 July 1947) is a Welsh former rugby union player who played scrum-half and has been described by the BBC as "arguably the greatest player ever to don a Welsh jersey". In 2003, in a poll of international ru ...

JPR Williams John Peter Rhys Williams (born 2 March 1949) is a former Welsh rugby union player who represented Wales in international rugby during their Golden Era in the 1970s. He became known universally as J. P. R. Williams (or sometimes just as JPR) aft ...

, Adam Jones,

Gethin Jenkins Gethin Jenkins (born 17 November 1980) is a Welsh former rugby union player. He won 129 international caps for Wales and five for the British & Irish Lions. Jenkins was the record cap holder for Wales until he was overtaken by Alun Wyn Jones on ...

and

Alun Wyn Jones Alun Wyn Jones (born 19 September 1985) is a Welsh professional rugby union player who plays as a lock for the Ospreys and the Wales national team. He is the world's most-capped rugby union player. Jones also holds the records for the most ...

Early life

Jones was born in Newport, and played junior

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

for

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

as a goalkeeper until the age of 14. He took up rugby union at age 17 to be with his friends at

Risca RFC Risca Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union club based in Risca, Monmouthshire. The club is a member of the Welsh Rugby Union and is a feeder club for the Newport Gwent Dragons. Club history Risca RFC was formed in 1875 when a group of w ...

. Ryan Jones studied at UWIC, no
Cardiff Metropolitan University
gaining a BSc (Hons) from 1999 to 2002. He played over a hundred games for UWIC RFC and captained the firsts in his final year. Jones said of the university: "I was a student at Cardiff Met's Cyncoed Campus for three years. I was really inspired by the ethos of sporting excellence and University rugby was the springboard for my international career".

Club career

Jones started his club career with Newport RFC making just one appearance as a replacement for Alix Popham versus Bridgend in May 1999. After leaving Newport he made 12 appearances for Bridgend RFC, before moving on to the Celtic Warriors at the start of regional rugby in 2003. In 2004, when the Celtic Warriors were disbanded he was offered a contract with the Ospreys, who went on to win the

Celtic League The Celtic League is a pan-Celtic organisation, founded in 1961, that aims to promote modern Celtic identity and culture in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and the Isle of Man – referred to as the Celtic nations; it places part ...

in 2004–05 and its replacement, the

in 2006–07. Jones was appointed captain of the Ospreys at the start of the 2007–08 season and under his captaincy the team went on to win the

Anglo-Welsh Cup The Anglo-Welsh Cup (), was a cross-border rugby union knock-out cup competition that featured the 12 Premiership Rugby clubs and the four Welsh regions. It was a created as a replacement for the RFU Knockout Cup, which featured only English clubs ...

in 2007–08, beating

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its hom ...

in the final at

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

and the Magners League for the third time in 2009–10, beating

Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of Ir ...

at the

RDS Arena RDS Arena is a multi-purpose sports stadium, owned by the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) and located in the Dublin suburb of Ballsbridge, Ireland. The arena was developed to host equestrian events, primarily the annual Dublin Horse Show, which wa ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

in the play-off final. He was succeeded as captain by his Wales and

British & Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

colleague

at the start of the 2010–11 season. On 24 March 2014, Jones signed for English club

Bristol Rugby Bristol Bears (officially Bristol Rugby Club or Bristol Rugby) are a professional rugby union club based in Bristol, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded as Bristol Football Club in 18 ...

, who were competing in the

RFU Championship The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men’s English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when ...

, on a two-year contract from the 2014–15 season. Jones retired from rugby in 2015 on medical advice following a reoccurring shoulder injury.

International career

Jones made his international debut for

against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

in November 2004. He featured in Wales' 2005 Grand Slam-winning side. He was not initially selected for the 44-man squad for the

2005 British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand In 2005, the British & Irish Lions rugby union team toured New Zealand for the first time since 1993, playing seven matches against first and second division teams from the National Provincial Championship, one match against the New Zealand Mao ...

. He was later called up as a replacement for the injured Simon Taylor. After his performance in the 30–19 win over

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

he was selected for the squad for the first test. He came on as a replacement and went on to start in the final two tests. In January 2008, Jones was appointed captain of Wales by new coach

Warren Gatland Warren David Gatland (born 17 September 1963) is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former player who is currently in his second spell as the head coach of the Wales national team. As head coach of Wales from 2007 to 2019, he won four Six N ...

. In his first Six Nations tournament as captain, he led his team to a second Grand Slam in four years. In November 2008, Ryan Jones and

Shane Williams Shane Mark Williams, (born 26 February 1977) is a Welsh rugby union player most famous for his long and successful tenure as a wing for the Ospreys and the Wales national team. He also played scrum-half on occasion. Williams is the record t ...

became the first Welsh players to be nominated in a group of five players for the

IRB International Player of the Year The World Rugby Men's 15s Player of the Year is an accolade awarded annually by World Rugby at the World Rugby Awards. The award is presented to honour "the achievements of those involved at the highest level of the world game on the field". Th ...

award, first awarded in 2001. Shane Williams was selected as the 2008 International Player of the Year. In April 2009, Jones was omitted from the

2009 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa The 2009 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa was an international rugby union tour which took place in South Africa from May to July 2009. The British & Irish Lions played a three-match Test series against South Africa, with matches in ...

. He was subsequently called up to join the squad on 9 June after

Stephen Ferris Stephen Ferris (born 2 August 1985) is a retired Irish rugby union player who played for Ulster and represented Ireland internationally. Ferris played club rugby with Dungannon. He is from Maghaberry and attended Friends' School Lisburn. He pla ...

pulled out with a knee injury, however within days of arriving in South Africa he was declared unfit by the Lions medical team due to head injuries he had sustained in a previous Wales test match. Jones was named captain of the Welsh team for the

Autumn internationals The autumn internationals, November internationals, end-of-year tests, and spring internationals/tour for Australia and New Zealand, are men's rugby union Test matches that are contested around November each year. It is organised by World Rugby. Te ...

in 2009, when the side faced

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Jones featured in all five of Wales' 2012 Six Nations matches, starting two, as he and the team secured a third Grand Slam in seven years. He also featured heavily in the following years championship, captaining Wales in three of the five games, only missing the final 30–3 defeat of England through injury, as Wales defended their championship title. Jones held the record as Wales most capped captain by overtaking the record of 28 caps held by

Ieuan Evans Ieuan Cennydd Evans (born 21 March 1964) is a former rugby union player who played on the wing for Wales and the British and Irish Lions. He is the fourth highest try scorer for Wales behind Shane Williams, George North and Gareth Thomas and ...

on 16 November 2012 versus Samoa. Jones' record of 33 caps as captain was surpassed by

Sam Warburton Sam Kennedy-Warburton, OBE MStJ (born 5 October 1988), commonly known as Sam Warburton, is a Welsh former international rugby union player. Warburton played rugby for Cardiff Rugby and was first capped for Wales in 2009. He usually played as ...

on 14 March 2015. He was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the

2021 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours for 2021 are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded ...

for services to rugby union football and charitable fundraising in Wales.

International tries

Personal life

His father, Stephen Jones, was a police officer in the Gwent Constabulary, based in

Cwmbran Cwmbran ( ; cy, Cwmbrân , also in use as an alternative spelling in English) is a town in the county borough of Torfaen in South Wales. Lying within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire, Cwmbran was designated as a New Town in 1949 to pro ...

. In 2022, he was diagnosed with

early onset dementia Early onset dementia is dementia in which symptoms first appear before the age of 65. The term favored until about 2000 was ''presenile dementia''; ''young onset dementia'' is also used. Early onset dementia may be caused by degenerative or vascu ...

, probable

chronic traumatic encephalopathy Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative disease linked to repeated trauma to the head. The encephalopathy symptoms can include behavioral problems, mood problems, and problems with thinking. The disease often gets worse o ...

(CTE). In the same interview, he also noted that he had been diagnosed with depression following his retirement from rugby in 2015, which was believed to be a symptom of the later dementia diagnosis.

References

External links

*
Wales profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Ryan 1981 births Living people Rugby union players from Newport, Wales Welsh rugby union players Wales international rugby union players Wales rugby union captains British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Wales Rugby union number eights Ospreys (rugby union) players Bridgend RFC players People educated at Bassaleg School Members of the Order of the British Empire Bristol Bears players Welsh people with disabilities 2011 Rugby World Cup players