Robert Jones
Wales
player portrait
Full name Robert Nicholas Jones
Born October 10, 1965, Glenaman
Current age 58 years 161 days
Major teams Barbarians, Bristol Bears, British and Irish Lions, British and Irish Lions XV, World XV, Wales
Position Scrum-half
Height 5 ft 8 in
Weight 162 lb

Test career
Span Mat Start Sub Pts Tries Conv Pens Drop Won Lost Draw %
All Tests 1986-1995 58 57 1 19 4 0 0 0 24 34 0 41.37
Wales 1986-1995 54 53 1 19 4 0 0 0 22 32 0 40.74
British and Irish Lions 1986-1989 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 50
Five/Six Nations 1986-1995 33 32 1 5 1 0 0 0 11 22 0 33.33
IRB Rugby World Cup 1987-1995 10 10 0 4 1 0 0 0 5 5 0 50

Career statistics
Test debut England v Wales at Twickenham, Jan 18, 1986 match details
Last Test Ireland v Wales at Johannesburg, Jun 4, 1995 match details
Test Statsguru Main menu | Career summary | Match list | Most points | Most tries | Tournament list

English Premiership
Team Span Mat Start Sub Pts Tries Conv Pens Drop Won Lost Draw %
All matches 1997-1998 16 16 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 15 0 6.25
Bristol Bears 1997-1998 16 16 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 15 0 6.25
Profile

Robert Jones is a former Wales and British & Irish Lions scrum-half who helped his country to their best World Cup performance when they finished third in 1987.

He had an immense passing ability and was tactically astute but played in a weak era of Welsh rugby when the pack was often dominated by the opposition. He made his Wales debut against England in 1986 at Twickenham and struck up an excellent partnership with fly-half Jonathan Davies. Jones put in some stellar performances for Wales and was not on a losing side against England for the first four years of his career.

In 1987 Wales had a poor Five Nations but bounced back to reach the semi-finals at the inaugural World Cup in New Zealand. They recorded a hard-fought 16-3 victory over England at the quarter-final stage but had too many injuries to trouble the All Blacks in the semi-final. Jones marked the occasion with his first Test try and Wales finished third after defeating Australia in the third place play-off.

Jones was part of the Wales side that won the Triple Crown in 1988 but it was the last time he and fellow his fellow half-back, Jonathan Davies, would play together as Davies switched codes in 1988. The following year Jones was selected for the British & Irish Lions tour of Australia where he had a memorable battle with his opposite number, Nick Farr-Jones. The Lions were victorious winning the deciding Test 19-18 in Sydney.

In 1991 Jones was part of the Wales squad that was dumped out of the World Cup on home soil at the group stages. Wales lost their opening game against Western Samoa and never recovered as they were thrashed 38-3 by Australia in a must-win match.

Jones toured again with the Lions two years later but did not play a Test. Jones played in his third and final World Cup two years later and played in the crucial pool match against Ireland in Johannesburg. Ireland won a nail-biting match 24-23 to send Wales home and the match was Jones' last in a Wales shirt. Jones continued to play club rugby for Bristol and Cardiff before retiring completely in 2000.

The year before Jones and his brother, Rhodri, were involved in car crash when a Police Officer was killed in Clydach, near Swansea. Robert and Rhodri's partners were in a taxi with them when they were in collision with a police car. PC Ian Godfrey, 30, was a passenger in the Panda car and died later. Robert suffered arm and chest injuries and his brother suffered a broken arm.

Since his retirement, Jones has become a rugby pundit on the radio and has been an assistant coach at the Llanelli Scarlets.

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Latest Photos
Jul 8, 1989
Brian Moore pops the ball off the floor
Brian Moore pops the ball off the floor
©  Getty Images
Jul 1, 1989
Nick Farr-Jones skips past Robert Jones
Nick Farr-Jones skips past Robert Jones
©  Getty Images
Jul 1, 1989
Robert Jones attempts to break a tackle
Robert Jones attempts to break a tackle
©  Getty Images
Jul 1, 1989
Robert Jones fires a pass
Robert Jones fires a pass
©  Getty Images
Robert Jones rugby photos (5) »

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