Jones (right) lasted just 30 minutes of the second New Zealand Test

Wales and Ospreys captain Ryan Jones will miss the start of the new season with the knee injury that cut short his summer tour.

The number eight was forced off after half-an-hour of Wales' second Test defeat to New Zealand in June.

The Ospreys begin their Magners League title defence away to Ulster at Ravenhill on Friday, 3 September.

"I'm still feeling the effects of it, I think it'll be a couple of weeks yet but I'm not too far away," Jones said.

"I've done something to my knee, I'm struggling with it to settle at the moment but we're making progress daily so it's a matter of time now."

Ospreys head coach Sean Holley has yet to confirm whether Jones will continue as skipper this season, although the back-row confirmed he would like to keep the armband.

"We've had some discussions and I think all will become clear in the near future," Jones added.

"I love the role but there's other things at stake and issues here."

We've got a fantastic squad here Ospreys back-row Ryan Jones

Whatever his position in the team, Jones is confident that the Ospreys have the squad to enable the Welsh region to challenge for honours once again.

"We've got a fantastic squad here that is hopefully going to go on to bigger and better things," Jones said.

"The great thing about this year is we're relatively settled with a core of players here now who are maturing together.

"People often forget how young this team is and we're getting to that age now, the core of the team are in their late 20s and hopefully over the next few season we'll go from strength to strength."

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