Peter Jackson: Jones heads lost legion of forgotten Welsh stars

There is a whole team of them to be found out there – the Welsh internationals whose meteoric streak in some cases hardly lasted much longer than Erica Roe’s. Some came in a flash and disappeared if not largely without trace then certainly minus the fanfare accorded to the topless Ms Roe after Her Ladyship’s celebrated interruption of an England-Australia match at Twickenham almost 30 years ago.
Some of the Forgotten did their flit across the global stage largely unannounced and left it too rapidly to leave any lasting impression. The majority of those still plying their trade know that any realistic hope of a second chance has long gone, that their Test futures barely lasted beyond the presentation of their Welsh caps.
Matt Jones is at Bristol now, his niche in the footnotes of  Welsh history reinforced with the passing of each season.   Jones will forever be found in the section reserved for the shortest career of any Welsh No10.
Of all those who rolled off the assembly line at Max Boyce’s outside-half factory, none had a briefer reign than the Jones boy.  Seven years ago at the age of 21, against Canada in Toronto, he replaced Nicky Robinson for the last 13 minutes in a Wales team depleted by the unavoidable absence of their best players on Lions business in New Zealand.
For Matt Jones from Bridgend, that was to be as good as it would get.  Since then he has moved around – Ospreys, Moseley, London Welsh and Worcester Warriors before dropping down into the Championship with Bristol. If there was never to be a way back onto the international stage, then there is no denying the fact that Jones has lived the dream, however briefly.
He has his cap and if it lasted only 13 minutes, then that was 13 minutes more than the vast percentage ever achieve. Everything, of course, is relative and it is a strange fact that his time with Wales lasted almost twice as long as another member of the Forgotten, Barrie Davies.
Davies and Wales were an item for all of eight minutes, as a late substitute at full-back for Lee Byrne against Ireland in Dublin seven years ago. An accomplished performer when injury was not taking chunks out of his career, Davies found himself out of a job at the end of last season at the age of 31.
The former Scarlet from Carmarthen, who returned to Wales and the Ospreys after a spell at Brive, became a victim of the recession which forced all four regions into swingeing cuts. He now plays for Jersey.
Others can also measure their international experience in minutes, like Warren Fury.   The widely-travelled scrum-half from Swansea made two sub appearances for Wales in South Africa four years ago and the sum total still added up to less than half an hour.
Scott Morgan, the former Blues and Dragons second row, found himself rationed to 20 minutes, against Australia in Brisbane in 2007.  Tight head prop Eifion Roberts, back at Sale after finding out at Toulon that the grass is not always greener in France, is still hoping to remove himself from the one-cap wonders and force his way back into favour.
The Forgotten:
Full-backs – Barrie Davies (Scarlets, 1 cap), Dan Evans (Dragons, 2)
Wings – Will Harries (Dragons, 3), Tom Prydie (Dragons, 4), Aled Brew (Biarritz, 5)
Centres – Gavin Evans (Blues, 1), Jonathan Spratt (Ospreys, 2)
Fly-half – Matt Jones (Bristol, 1)
Scrum halves – Warren Fury (Bath, 2), Martin Roberts (Northampton, 3)
Props – Eifion Lewis-Roberts (Sale, 1), Ceri Jones (Worcester, 2), Rhys Gill (Saracens, 2), Scott Andrews (Blues, 2), Ben Broster (Biarritz, 2)
Hooker – Steve Jones (Dragons, 6)
Locks – Lou Reed (Blues, 1), Scott Morgan (Dragons, 1), Will James (Gloucester, 1)
Back row – Richie Pugh (Scarlets, 1), Rhys Oakley (Northampton, 2), Rob McCusker (Scarlets, 4)