'Hopefully he won’t be cursing me': Jones’ first Toulon interview

Alun Wyn Jones has given his first interview as a Toulon player, outlining what he hopes to achieve during his short-term contract at the Top 14 club. The world’s most capped Test player had been named on May 1 as part of the Wales training squad for the upcoming Rugby World Cup in France.

However, he has instead turned up across the Channel earlier than anticipated in a very different role. Having retired from Test rugby on May 19 rather than commit to Wales’ arduous preparation campaign, his two-game UK tour as skipper of the Barbarians was followed by the July 7 announcement that he had signed for Toulon.

The soon-to-be 37-year-old ex-Ospreys lock has now arrived in the south of France and has started training ahead of a Top 14 season that will begin on August 19 away to Lyon.

He has since sat down with the Toulon media crew for a five-minute video interview in which he spoke about his delight over his move from Wales and how he hopes to lay a good foundation for when Dan Biggar and all the club’s other international players return from the World Cup.

“It’s great to be here, to finally get out here,” he began. “I have the opportunity to come to Toulon and pull on this famous jersey and I’m really looking forward to it. I have been very fortunate to play for a long time all over the world with a lot of great players.

“I still want to play rugby and the opportunity particularly to do that in Toulon with a hungry group of players who want to build on the success of last year, with a lot of players away at Rugby World Cup, I felt it was in many ways the right timing. The planets aligned for me to do this now having played for as long as I had.

“Having spoken to them [Toulon] in a couple of meetings, they were aware of the players who would be away. Hopefully, I can bring a bit of experience to add to the group and build on the foundation of the success they had last year.

“As it stands, I’m here on a short-term contract until the end of November but hopefully I can make enough of a mark to build on last year’s success and build the foundation for the players to come back after a successful World Cup.

“Hopefully I can respond in my performances and show what the game means to me. Obviously, when walking down here to do this interview, you see the players that have gone before you and what they have achieved (in pictures on the wall), so I have got to earn the respect of players, coaches and particularly supporters.

“I’m hugely aware of the Welsh players who have been here and had success with Toulon. Gethin Jenkins, Leigh Halfpenny, Rhys Webb was here as well, even Eifion Lewis-Roberts. There is a strong theme of Welsh players who have been here.

“I haven’t had an opportunity to speak to Dan yet because I think he is in the Swiss Alps somewhere being beasted by Warren (Gatland), but hopefully he won’t be cursing me too much and we put the team in good stead for when he comes back from the World Cup.”

Jones added that he was looking forward to settling in as quickly as possible with the new French season just weeks away from starting. “To get up to speed as quick as I can, to improve my language, and ultimately get into the groove as quick as I can, rugby and within the group,” he said when asked about his immediate priorities.

“Things have happened pretty quickly for me and sometimes that is a good thing. You don’t have time to think and just get on with it. One thing I am hopeful of is rugby is a universal language and ultimately a lot of things don’t change and hopefully I can show what it means to be here.

“There is expectation; you see the way the fans support Toulon. If I can answer some of those questions about why I am here, what I have done and what I can do I will be doing the right thing. Also, know a bit of the history of Felix Mayol, it is important and hopefully I can add in a very small way to the history.”