Posted by When Ioan Cunningham named his Cymru squad for the opening round of the Guinness Six Nations against Scotland, there were headlines but few surprises.
Former England U20 captain Jenny Hesketh starting at full-back has dominated the coverage, the return of Jasmine Joyce from the 7s circuit also garnered attention, while on a personal level there was an eyebrow raised at not seeing the impressive Georgia Evans starting at lock.
However, more of a footnote has been the other debutant in the 23, with scrum-half Sian Jones set to make her first senior international appearance if called upon off the bench. In years to come that may be seen as a shock, as judging by her performances for Gwalia Lightning in the Celtic Challenge over the last two months, the recently turned 20-year-old is a future star.
Now the first thing to say about Jones before getting into any specifics about her game is that she passes the first impression test with flying colours. That is to say, there are some players that just give off that air of quality and assurance when you see them play for the first time; for me it’s Rhys Patchell, James Botham and Cam Winnett that particularly spring to mind at Cardiff.
They just seem to move as rugby players should, there is something aesthetically pleasing to the way they play the game, and the North Walian fits that brief. She’s rarely sprinting to catch up with play or flustered at the base of a ruck, she simply cruises from phase-to-phase and has a passing style and consistent quality that puts the ball in the hands of the first receiver time-after-time with speed and accuracy.
On top of that though, Jones has this innate ability to increase the tempo of an attack from nothing, timing her interjections to perfection and backing herself to make something happen. Her vision allows her to attack short-sides and identify favourable match-ups, her pace makes her dangerous around the fringes and her skillset means she rarely dies with the ball.
Combine that vision, skillset and speed with a physical edge, and you have a serious threat with ball-in-hand beyond the offering of an excellent pass off both hands and an ability to control the tempo with her actions.
The Gwalia Lightning coaches used Jones cleverly, at times almost as an additional back rower, especially with front peels at the lineout and as a carrier off the scrum, with her strength causing opposition sides trouble when not matching up effectively.
In that there’s an element of Mike Phillips to her play, the borderline arrogance with which she holds herself on the field, and the way she can dominate contact from scrum-half.
What Jones has which maybe even Phillips didn’t have a huge amount of though, is a quality and variation to her kicking game at 9 that can get her team out of trouble, but that is also an attacking weapon in it’s own right.
I wrote earlier in the week about how Cymru can evolve the game plan with Lleucu George at 10 into becoming a kick-heavy team with the kicking length to pin teams back in their own territory, before the fitness and power of the rest of the players push to win the physical battle and get over the line.
In a role coming off the bench, Jones will need that kicking variation, and particularly the distance off her boot, to win that territory battle late on and either put us in positions to win games, or sap the energy from the opposition as they try to chase.
That vision she has in her attacking game translates into the kicking game as she spots space and has the footballing skills to put the ball exactly where she wants it. A keen golfer outside of rugby, she has a perfect 3-iron of a right foot that can drive the ball down the field while retaining accuracy.
Circling back to the physical aspect of Jones’ game though, her added value piece comes from what she offers in defence, both in terms of tackle count, but again as a part-time back rower getting over the ball and winning turnovers.
The second clip is a particularly vicious shot, absolutely textbook technique though!
As mentioned at the top of the piece, Jones has only recently turned 20. Her quality has been spotted already, with Cymru D20 honours, stepping up to the first team at Sale Sharks, starting each game of the Celtic Challenge for Gwalia Lightning and training with the Cymru senior squad ahead of WXV1 all under her belt while still a teenager.
Now though she’s looking to make the next step, and there’s few better ways of doing that as a scrum-half than shadowing Keira Bevan for a Six Nations Championship. The incumbent in the red 9 jersey is a quality player, and at 26 still has plenty of gas in the tank yet.
Jones though will be keen to lay down a marker, and as she progresses, along with Meg Davies and Seren Singleton in the training squad, and Ffion Lewis working her way back from an injury lay-off, the competition for that scrum-half spot can only be a good thing to drive standards among the group of players.
It’s an exciting time for this Cymru squad, with Jones and the 9 corps epitomising that.
Cardiff Rugby Life 