Kingsley Jones

Kingsley Jones (born 19 June 1970) is a Welsh rugby union coach, currently in charge of the Canadian national team.

A former Welsh international player, Jones has played and coached at various levels, from playing at the amateur level to the professional level in Wales and England.

He since gone on to become a professional coach at club and international level.

Jones often appears on BBC 2 Wales' regular Sunday rugby union programme Scrum V.

His father, Phil Kingsley Jones, is the former manager of Jonah Lomu.

Both his sons Dorian Jones and Rhys Jones are current professional rugby union players.

Jones, a former loose forward, first started playing for his local side Abertillery RFC (soon afterwards Abertillery became a member of the professional Welsh Premier Division) before being picked up by Cross Keys RFC in 1993.

At Captaining Cross Keys, he played a single season for the side gaining experience at a higher level of the game, before moving to one of the leading sides in Wales, Pontypridd RFC in the Welsh Premier Division.

Guided by Dennis John, Jones became a physical loose forward for the side, playing at Flanker or Number 8 in his sole season at the club.

In 1995, Jones joined Ebbw Vale RFC at the elite end of Welsh rugby.

He was a regular in the backrow for Ebbw Vale, such that he was given captaincy on his arrival at his new club.

On 24 August 1996, Jones made his international debut for Wales, starting in the backrow in a test match against the Barbarians.

He gained his first cap against an international opponent a month later, starting against France in Cardiff.

In 1998, he led Ebbw Vale to their first ever WRU Challenge Cup Final, only to lose to Llanelli, 19–12.

In that same season, he was given captaincy of the national team in an away game to South Africa, in what was Jones' last international appearance for his country after rupturing his chiles tendon.

Ahead of the 1998/99 season, Jones crossed the border and represented Gloucester professionally for three seasons again being appointed as club captain on his arrival, before moving on to Worcester Warriors in the 2001–02 where he was appointed captain on his arrival for the third time in his career.

He returned to Wales a season later, playing for Pontypridd, before ending his playing career at Doncaster as a player-coach.

He had represented the Barbarians as a player on their 2000 UK tour of Ireland, Scotland, and England.

After retiring at the end of the 2003/04 season, Philippe Saint-André, who was newly appointed head coach of Sale Sharks, brought Jones in a forwards coach for the 2004–05 English Premiership.

Between Saint-André and his assistants, Sale made it to the semi-final of the English Premiership, only to lose to London Wasps 43–22.

He retired as a player in 2004, winning 10 caps for Wales between 1996 and 1998, and had made more than 100 appearances for a Welsh club.

He had at some point captained every side that he played for, at club and international level.

Sale did however claim the 2004–05 European Challenge Cup title, after beating Pau in the final 27–3.

In 2005, Saint-André was promoted to Director of Rugby, which saw Jones replace Saint-André as head coach of the club.

In Jones' first season in charge, he helped Sale go one step further and make the English Premiership final of that season.

They faced Leicester Tigers in the final, who were defeated by the Sharks 45–20 to see Sale earn their first ever Premiership title.

In Europe, Sale made it as far as the quarter-finals of the 2005–06 Heineken Cup, losing to Biarritz Olympique 11–6 in the knock-out game.

The 2006/07 season saw Jones's side struggle, after dropping to tenth during the English Premiership and failed to advance out of the group stage of the Heineken Cup.

The following season saw Sale narrowly miss out on the knock-out stage of the 2007–08 English Premiership, however, Sale did progress to semi-finals of the 2007–08 European Challenge Cup, but in that game lost out to Bath 36–14.

The 2008/09 season was Philippe Saint-André's last season with the club after he announced in December 2008 he would be leaving his post as Director of Rugby.

This meant Jones was to be promoted up to the top job with immediate effect.

After Jones became Director of Rugby, he brought in Jason Robinson as head coach.

In their first year of partnership, Sale narrowly remained in the top Premiership after slipping to eleventh on the table, while they failed to make much of an impact on the European scene.

The 2010/11 season saw Jones bring in a new head coach to replace Robinson who left at the back end of the previous season.

Mike Brewer became the full-time head coach after filling in for Robinson, however Brewer was sacked three months into the season.

2010 Barbarians V England & Ireland saw Jones again team up with Frenchman Philippe Saint Andre to coach the Barbarians with a defeat to England at Twickenham 35–28 and a win over Ireland in Thomond park 29–23.

His first match in charge was a narrow 33–32 win away to Portugal in the second leg of the 2010–12 European Nations Cup First Division.

In January 2011, Jones later announced his resignation, standing down as Director of Rugby at the club at the end of January 2011.

After leaving Sale Sharks in January 2011, he joined the Russian national team as a consultant to Nikolay Nerush ahead of the 2011 Rugby World Cup, before being officially named as National teams Director just months before the World Cup.

Following the World Cup, Jones became the head coach of the national team after Nerush stood down.