My Life in Rugby: Mark Jones – former Scarlets and Wales wing now Rotherham coach

Hopefully my rugby career has plenty of miles left on the clock – the long commute from Llanelli to Rotherham certainly suggests so – but to have achieved what I have already is something I look back on with immense pride. Few will get the opportunity to win a Grand Slam as a player and then be part of a Championship-winning coaching team.
The 2008 Grand Slam came towards the end of my Wales playing days, after two World Cups, two career-threatening knee injuries and a number of semi-final heartaches with Llanelli, who I joined from Llandovery in 1997.
We reached three Heineken Cup semi-finals, all against English opposition, and not nailing one remains one of my few regrets. We also lost to Wasps in the 2006 Powergen Cup final. My most vivid memory of that game was of Simon Easterby being knocked out. I guess my recollection is better than his!
My international career began in 2001. I had been earmarked for a place on the Wales Sevens team but my performances for the Scarlets caught Graham Henry’s eye and he brought me into the Six Nations squad. My debut was on the same day that Scott Gibbs won his 50th cap and it was the first Six Nations game at the Millennium Stadium. Unfortunately we were well beaten by an England side in its pomp.
Steve Hansen had us in great shape for the 2003 World Cup. His vigorous fitness regime continued throughout the tournament until we got to the New Zealand and England games when he eased up on us. We went into both games fresh and played some great rugby.
Had Mike Tindall not been replaced by Mike Catt, whose kicking game pinned us back in the second half, then we might have been able to consolidate on our half-time lead and go on to win the game.
After around 18 months out with ACL injuries to both my knees I earned an international recall for the 2007 World Cup. I thought we’d prepared really well under Gareth Jenkins and to lose to Fiji was a huge disappointment for us as a group and the country as a whole.
We could – and should – have done so much better. Thankfully, we were able to restore some national pride in the following Six Nations when we kicked off our Grand Slam-winning campaign with a first win at Twickenham for 20 years.
Disappointingly I was dropped for the home game against Scotland but after putting in a big shift in training I was back in for the Italy clash and remained in the team thereafter. We beat France 29-12 to clinch the Slam and I nearly scored right at the end.
The game against the US in Chicago on the 2009 summer tour was to be my 47th and final appearance for Wales. It was nice to bow out on a winning note (48-15) and with a try. I was selected for the All Blacks game the following autumn but my knee had had enough and I got an opportunity to go into coaching with the Scarlets.
Under Nigel Davies we managed to bring quite a lot of young players through and that caught the attention of the national set-up and I was invited to become assistant backs coach to Rob Howley.
I was given a lot of responsibility and, after a poor first half in the opening game against Ireland, we played some good rugby and won the title. I’m now 3-4 months into my role as head coach of Rotherham after 16 years at the Scarlets.
When Wayne Pivac decided to bring in his own men I chose to seek new challenges and this came up. The culture of Rotherham as a club really resonates with me.