 Ryan Jones has not spoken about his omission from this summer's Lions tour |
Sean Holley has warned Wales captain Ryan Jones that the Ospreys could not guarantee him their number eight spot. Ex-Ospreys boss Lyn Jones insists Jones playing out of position for both club and country cost him his place on this summer's Lions tour to South Africa. Jones has been at blindside flanker to accommodate Andy Powell in the Wales team and Filo Tiatia at the Ospreys. And current Ospreys coach Holley said: "When somebody like Filo is playing well then you want both in your team." Ironically, Jones did play number eight in last Saturday's home defeat to Edinburgh and is selected again in the same position for Thursday night's derby against Newport Gwent Dragons. Jones' Lions heartbreak would have been compounded as Blues back-rower Powell, who ousted him at number eight for Wales, won a shock call in coach Ian McGeechan's 37-man tour squad for South Africa. Lyn Jones, Ryan Jones' old coaching mentor, insisted it was "an appalling decision" not to take him to play the Springboks especially as Jones was one of the stand-out performers on the last Lions tour to New Zealand in 2005.  | Clearly Ryan Jones has huge amounts of talent to offer at number eight Ospreys coach Sean Holley |
Lyn Jones said: "He's a number eight and he needs to get back to playing number eight. "He should say to Warren Gatland: 'I'm a number eight next year and if you don't want me to play number eight, then I don't want to play'. Wales coach Warren Gatland, part of McGeechan's Lions coaching backroom staff, insists Jones was left out of the Lions tour because of his poor form. The double Grand Slam winner was hailed as the best number eight in the British Isles by former coach Jones but Holley pointed out: "Don't forget Ryan played at blindside flanker in Wales' 2005 Grand Slam team. "Clearly Ryan has huge amounts of talent to offer at number eight and I think we saw that both against the Scarlets and against Edinburgh last weekend. "So again, that is something that's in the forefront of our minds." Holley insists Jones has responded admirably to his omission from McGeechan's party in which Wales chief Gatland and assistants Shaun Edwards and Rob Howley are in the coaching team. "He is pretty determined," said Holley. "He's obviously had a massive blow and disappointment but we all get our highs and lows and unfortunately this is a time when Ryan hasn't been selected. "And what Ryan has been good at is dusting himself down. "He's been very professional now he's leading this team in the remaining games and putting himself out there. | 606: DEBATE |
"He got back to some real good ball carrying and hard work on the weekend and we'll be looking for the same in the derby match against the Dragons on Thursday. "So he's still got a Wales summer tour to play for and who knows, maybe a late call-up. We don't know, but to his credit he's been very, very grown up about it." Jones made himself available for Wales' summer tour of North America and hopes to impress to win for an 11th-hour Lions call. Wales take on Canada in Toronto on 30 May followed by a clash against the US Eagles in Chicago on 6 June. The Lions depart to South Africa on 24 May for a 10-match tour and play three Test matches in Durban on 20 June, Pretoria on 27 June and Johannesburg on 4 July.
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