Mark Anthony Jones (born 7 November 1979) is a Welsh professional

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

coach and former player who played as a

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

for the

Scarlets The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby c ...

and

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

. Since making his international debut for

in 2001, he won 47 caps and scored 13 tries. He is currently head coach of the Ospreys.

Early life

Jones was born in

Builth Wells Builth Wells (; ) is a market town and community in the county of Powys and historic county of Brecknockshire (Breconshire), mid Wales, lying at the confluence of rivers Wye and Irfon, in the Welsh (or upper) part of the Wye Valley. In 20 ...

, 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 Christian Sean Malcolm (born 3 June 1979) is a retired Welsh track and field athlete who specialised in the 200 metres. In 2020 he was appointed Head Coach of the British Athletics Olympic Programme. Early life Malcolm was born and was brough ...

in a

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at ...

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.

Career

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 A captaincy ( , , ) is a historical administrative division of the former Spanish colonies, Spanish and Portuguese colonies, Portuguese colonial empires. It was instituted as a method of organization, directly associated with the home-rule admin ...

for the

' 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.

Coaching career

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. In 2012 he joined Wales set up, supporting Rob Howley at the 2012 autumn internationals. In 2013 he became interim attack coach during the Six Nations Championship. He also accompanied Robin McBryde on the 2013 tour of Japan. In 2015 he became head coach of the Rotherham Titans in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

, 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 took over as head coach of Colwyn Bay-based side

RGC 1404 RGC 1404 (Rygbi Gogledd Cymru 1404), formerly "Gogledd Cymru" (, "North Wales"), is a rugby union team founded in 2008 and based in Colwyn Bay, Conwy. They currently play in the Super Rygbi Cymru; after winning Division 1 East at the first atte ...

in 2016 as they moved into the Welsh Premier Division for that season. He led the side into a spell of exciting rugby, with commentators praising the Gogs' "sizzling, attacking style" which led to their victory in the Welsh National Cup in 2017. 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. After three years at Eirias Stadium, Jones stood down as head coach of RGC, stating that the travel between his home town of Neath and Colwyn Bay was becoming too difficult for his family. He described one occasion where he travelled 800 miles in one weekend between work, attending his son's football game, and returning home to Neath. He told WalesOnline that he would continue to seek a coaching role, ideally at a PRO14 Welsh regional side. He described his preferred coaching style as "working with players with a tracksuit on", but said his time in Colwyn Bay had particularly helped him develop as an off-field coach. During the

2019 Rugby World Cup The 2019 Rugby World Cup () was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening matc ...

, Jones was offered a role coaching the

Namibia national rugby union team The Namibia national rugby union team (nicknamed the Welwitschias) represents Namibia in men's international rugby union competitions. They are a tier-two nation in the World Rugby tier system, and have participated in seven Rugby World Cup compe ...

in Japan, "working closely with the Namibia backs both prior and during the competition". He was joined by fellow ex-Wales players Dale McIntosh and Wayne Proctor. In January 2020 Jones surprised rugby pundits when he announced he was moving to

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

and joining the coaching setup at the

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

side

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...

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". In January 2025 Jones was announced as new Ospreys head coach.https://www.ospreysrugby.com/news/meet-mark-jones-new-ospreys-boss-who-just-loves-coaching

Early life

Career

Coaching career

References

External links