 Jones had a miserable time against the All Blacks |
Wales captain Stephen Jones is ready to prove his ability at fly-half with the Scarlets ahead of the Six Nations. Jones, 29 on Friday, injured knee ligaments early in the opening game of the November Tests against Australia.
He returned for the 45-10 hammering by New Zealand, but was less than fully fit and there have since been calls for James Hook to take the Wales 10 shirt.
"Nobody's got a divine right to play for Wales and if I don't perform I'll face the consequences," said Jones.
"I try not to read the criticism, but I've been through it before and it's always interesting to see what opinions come out."
Former Wales outside-half Gareth Davies led the unfavourable post-New Zealand analysis of Jones, saying he had "crabbed" across the pitch.
He cited the improvement in Wales' back play when rising star Hook came off the bench and suggested that Wales coach Gareth Jenkins had made a rod for his own back by making Jones skipper until the World Cup.
 | The knee is still not 100%, but it's getting there |
But former Wales captain and number 10 Jonathan Davies has defended Jones, noting that there is less pressure on a man coming off the bench than on the player given the task of directing the back line from the start.
Jones has admitted that his knee is still not completely right.
"The knee is still not 100%, but it's getting there," Jones told BBC Sport Wales.
"It was a personal decision to play against New Zealand. The management and staff were superb and put me under no pressure.
"Hindsight is a wonderful thing. I was disappointed with my performance and if I had to make the decision about whether to play again I'm not sure what I would have done.
"It wasn't all about the injury, though. The All Blacks put a lot of pressure on the half-backs, fought the contact area very well, and didn't give us the room to play.
| Stradey Park is a special place to be at the moment |
"It was good to have a week off afterwards. I went to France and caught up with a few of the boys, it was nice to get away from things in Wales."
Jones was rested for last week's EDF Energy Cup loss at Sale, but is back in the Scarlets side this wekend and relishing the prospect of back-to-back Heineken Cup ties with Toulouse followed by the Christmas Magners League derbies.
"It doesn't get any bigger than welcoming three-times winners Toulouse in the Heineken Cup, these are the sort of matches I came back to Wales for and I'm really looking forward to it," said Jones.
"They have a huge squad of talented individuals who haven't played to their potential yet - and we don't want them to start against us!
"Stradey Park is a special place to be at the moment and we hope we can do ourselves justice.
"If we don't perform we won't get the result, and we can't afford that after all the work we've put in here."
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