Jones and Robertson to join forces for Alun Wyn Jones
NEWS: Wales legend Alun Wyn Jones will get the chance to run out at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium one more time when he plays for the Barbarians against Wales in a tribute match on November 4.
The match was confirmed by the Welsh Rugby Union on Wednesday and it will take place a week after the World Cup Final.
The game will pit Warren Gatland and his coaching team against Australia’s Eddie Jones and New Zealand’s Scott Robertson, who will lead the opposition from the coaches box.
“Principality Stadium is one of the best places in the world to play rugby and when you add the passion and fervour of a Welsh crowd and the unique and exciting brand of rugby the Barbarians are famous for, we have a match in prospect that will be the envy of fans around the globe,” said current Wallabies boss Eddie Jones.
Now playing for Toulon in the Top 14, Alun Wyn Jones won 158 caps for Wales and a further 12 for the British & Irish Lions on four tours between 2009-2021, making him the world’s most-capped player with 170 caps.
He captained Wales 48 times, led the Lions in the third Test in Australia in 2013 and in the three Tests in South Africa in 2021.
Twice nominated for the World Rugby Player of the Year award in 2015 and 2019 he was named as the best player of the 2019 Six Nations Championship after leading Wales to Grand Slam glory.
“Alun Wyn will have been the first name on many team sheets for many years and I’m not only looking forward to meeting him and coaching him, but also watching him in his final dance with a passionate crowd!” said Crusader’s coach, and future All Blacks head coach, ‘Razor’ Robertson.
“It’s an honour and a privilege to be asked to coach the Barbarians and I can’t think of a better place to do it than in Cardiff, against Wales.”
Alun Wyn Jones is one of seven post-war Wales players to have won three Grand Slams, along with Ryan Jones, Adam Jones, Gethin Jenkins, JPR Williams, Gerald Davies and Gareth Edwards, and one of 13 all tolled when you add in Johnny Williams, Billy Trew, Dickie Owen, George Travers, Jim Webb and Tom Evans, who were the trailblazers with successes in 1908, 1909 and 1911.
He made his Barbarians debut in the game against a World XV at Twickenham earlier this year after retiring from Welsh international rugby and also turned out for the famous invitational side against his first senior club, Swansea.
“The fixture will be a chance to see the Wales squad back on home soil after what we all know will be an exciting campaign in France,” said WRU Group commercial and legal director, Rhodri Lewis.
“It will also be an opportunity to welcome some familiar faces back to Principality Stadium, with Alun Wyn already signed up as the first name on the team sheet for the BaaBaas and an exciting coaching team of Eddie Jones and Scott Robertson taking charge of the visitors.
“The game will have a celebratory feel to it because of the personnel involved. It will be a chance to say thank you to some of Welsh rugby’s most loyal servants.
“This will be a game to relish.”
