Jones the Cub wastes no time staking claim

Lions number 8 Ryan Jones steps clear of Otago halfback Danny Lee on his way to scoring a try. Picture / Mark Mitchell

It was a performance which begged a question: why the heck wasn't Ryan Jones in the original Lions tour party?

The big, rangy 24-year-old joined the squad only a week ago, as a replacement when luckless Scotsman Simon Taylor was ruled out by a persistent hamstring injury.

But talk about taking your chance. Jones was the standout player in the Lions' 30-19 win over Otago at Carisbrook on Saturday night and as the occasion was all about impressing the boss with first test consideration in mind, Jones could scarcely have done more.

He scored one of the three Lions tries, helped set up another, charged about the field with an unquenchable thirst to be in the thick of things, making and busting tackles, setting up phases, winning the odd lineout and grabbing an occasional up and under.

It was one of the few instances on this tour of an individual turning in a really eye-catching display.

Jones, who was in Toronto with the Welsh team just over a week ago, must have forced a rethinking of the test loose forward mix, but he's not getting ahead of himself.

"I've done a job for Clive. There's still jerseys up for grabs. Who knows? Anything could happen this week.

"All I've done is give 110 per cent and staked a claim. I can't do any more than that," he said.

Jones, who made his test debut for Wales last November and has eight caps, revealed a piece of advice from his policeman father, Steve, who grabbed the first plane from home when he heard his son was taking an unexpected long-distance flight last weekend.

"He said 'have no regrets', that it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

And like a good son he followed his father's advice, showing that Grand Slam champions Wales have a plethora of good quality loose forwards, three of whom, Jones, Martyn Williams and Michael Owen, are in the Lions party.

Jones' Otago counterpart, Grant Webb, was impressed with the Welshman.

"For his size he's very athletic, and got around the track pretty well. He's got a big future," he said.

Sir Clive Woodward was mischievously asked on Saturday night if he'd worked out who he'd put in the test back row alongside Jones.

He didn't take the bait, but conceded Jones had "a fantastic game, I'm very, very pleased for him. He looked immense out there".

"We've lost two world class players [Lawrence Dallaglio and Taylor], Ryan's got his chance. That's what sport's about. You get your chance and take it."

Jones agreed the first 20 minutes against Otago was "a massive shock for me, extremely physical, like nothing you deal with back home".

If Jones was smart on Saturday night, he will have phoned his mother Julie back in Wales.

For a mix of reasons, his father knew he had made the Lions tour several hours before Jones did.

When he finally got a call from his father, "the first thing he said was, 'You'd better ring your mother, she's going bananas"'.

Jones, who spoke engagingly and a little wide-eyed about his big night out, is delighted to have played in a way which earned the respect of his team-mates.

"Only now I've shared the experiences they have, the tears, blood and sweat. I really am one of them, I can look round the changing room and think I've put something into the tour, rather than just be turning up, taking the kit and having a nice hotel room."

Considering his goal at the start of the Northern Hemisphere season was to make his Neath-Swansea Ospreys club team, you could say Jones is punching above his weight. And there could be more to come in the next few days.