"I am thoroughly enjoying it and, crikey, we're in the semifinal of a World Cup. I'm trying to contribute and be a part of it as much as I can be."
His involvement looks likely to be from the bench as Wales' back-row trio of Toby Faletau, captain Sam Warburton and Dan Lydiate continued to impress in their 22-10 quarter-final victory against Ireland.
Under Warren Gatland, selection in the reserves is no guarantee of game time. Against Ireland, he bucked the trend of modern coaches by making just two substitutes, both injury enforced. Lock Bradley Davies came on for Luke Charteris at halftime and utility James Hook replaced first five-eighths Rhys Priestland with two minutes to go. Both Charteris and Priestland suffered shoulder injuries that have put their semifinal places in jeopardy. Wales name their team this afternoon.
Jones believes it would matter little which 15 is selected to start, such is the confidence among the squad as they look ahead to Saturday's clash with France, a team that has given them more problems than most in recent years. "The boys are confident and there are a lot of guys in fine form which will benefit the team," Jones said. "It is highly competitive here, everyone gets along well and there is good balance across the squad, with positions, players, ages and experience. Everything seems to be working at the moment."
Nobody would argue. Apart from their opening Pool D hiccup against South Africa - which led to tired old cliches being trotted out about not being able to win against good teams - Wales have looked the part.
Such was their clinical disassembling of Ireland in Wellington, Wales should start slight favourites against the French renaissance.
"The set piece was excellent. [At] the breakdown I thought the boys were superb. All the stats were superb, which reflected on the end result," Jones said of the Ireland win.
France's ability to offer the unpredictable makes them more difficult to prepare for. While Ireland were a good team in excellent form, there was no mystery to the way they approached the game. They had obvious strengths and they did everything they could to play to them, even when it was obvious that Wales had planned for them and were comfortable repelling them.
Marc Lievremont's team will not be so easy to budge from their gameplan, simply because their gameplan is unlikely to be so one-dimensional.
"The focus of this week, as it has been for the whole tournament, has been about doing the same as you have been doing. You do not go into a week like this trying to reinvent the wheel. You don't change anything," Jones revealed.
"At this time of the tournament, you can't afford to be turning the ball over, kicking loosely and missing tackles because you get punished more heavily at this end of the tournament and that is what it boils down to.
"And there is no second chance."
Wales V France
Eden Park, 9pm, Saturday.
