Mark Jones’ reputation in the game has continued to grow after a marked impact on the Ospreys this season
In coaching years, Mark Jones is still relatively young.
Just 44, the former Wales wing has been retired from the game since 2010, when a series of knee injuries cut his career short.
In truth, his path into coaching had begun long before that, with the Scarlets flyer taking charge of the backs at his hometown club Builth Wells while recovering from reconstructive knee surgery in 2004.
With the man affectionately known as ‘Boycie’ offering his wisdom from the sidelines of the Groe, the Bulls achieved promotion that year.
When the time finally came to call it a day six years later, Jones embarked on a coaching career that would prove to be as varied as it has been successful.
Starting with the Scarlets, he has since gone on to work with Rotherham, RGC, Namibia, Crusaders, Worcester and Wales U20s. There was also some time with the Wales senior team in 2013, while he’s been linked with more international jobs both here and in England since.
Now, Jones is earning plaudits at the Ospreys, having taken their defence to new levels.
Last week, a concerted rear-guard effort laid the foundations for a remarkable win over the Stormers in Cape Town, while Toby Booth’s side have proven tough to break down all season on their way to a Challenge Cup quarter-final and the United Rugby Championship play-off hunt.
That win over the Stormers, becoming just the third team to beat the one-time champion and two-time URC finalists in Cape Town, had Jones’ fingerprints all over it.
“They defended unbelievably well,” said Ospreys wing Alex Cuthbert on the Scrum V Podcast this week. “You can see Mark Jones’ influence in that team is getting more and more throughout the season. We’re definitely on the up there.
“A lot of the boys who are playing with us like Morgan Morse, they played with Boycie with the U20s. They know the way he works and that’s how they’ve bought into it, as well as the senior boys.
“That’s what we needed for the last couple of years, someone to come in and just say we’re doing this. We’re getting the fruition of that now.”
Morgan Morris also noted that Jones had “come in and given us a really good defensive boost.”
In the past two seasons in the URC, the Ospreys had scored a combined total of 98 tries, but conceded 138. This season, they’ve crossed for 42 scores, but conceded just 34. It’s a marked improvement and it’s down to the mid Walian.
When asked about what sort of impact Jones has had around the Ospreys, head coach Booth said: “A brilliant one. For me personally, having another experienced coach around massively makes a difference.
“There’s things we can bounce off each other on a personal level. That’s really good to have. He’s given a massive amount of clarity to what we needed to do.
“There’s no one perfect defence system, otherwise everyone would use the thing, right? And no one enjoys 0-0s.
“He’s given very good clarity and there’s been some nice tweaks in it to keep it evolving and specific plans. He’s had a massive impact for sure and he’s very popular with the group. We feel lucky to finally get that position filled with such quality.”
What makes it all the more remarkable is that Jones started off as an attack coach, before turning his attention to the defence while with Super Rugby giants Crusaders in New Zealand.
“One thing is he knows his rugby,” new All Black coach Scott Robertson, who Jones served under in Christchruch, told WalesOnline earlier in the season. “He’s played at the highest level.
“He’s coached a lot of different levels to get to where he is right now. He’s good at the development side of it.
“He’s good at the high professional side of it. He’s got it all covered. He can coach international rugby for sure.”