He had opportunities to go, but he's stayed loyal to the Ospreys."Īs a player, Jones spent the majority of his career at the same club. He's Lions captain, he's national captain, an icon of Welsh rugby, so you sit down and talk about it and the right decision was for him to stay. But the way you talk about is whether it's right for the family. The offer was probably three times what he would have earned in Wales," recalled Jones. One summer he went over to Toulon, he met the president. Jones uses Warburton and Justin Tipuric as prime examples. But I'd say 80% of the work we do is keeping players at the clubs because as Welsh, we don't always want to move." "People think that those in my position just take players from clubs. "All you can do is turn and say to a player 'whatever decision you make I'll back you'. Do I sit down and say to a player 'go here because there's an extra couple of quid there'? Of course not. "People have to realise that players make their own decisions in life. "Sometimes players are cut and there's no compassion, no support, no care about whether they can pay their mortgage next month. They don't see the fact that some players are being lowballed or when a player leaves a club, they (fans) won't look at the situation as a player. " the opinion of a couple of people on social media because little Johnny's decided to go from Llanelli or wherever to Clermont Auvergne. "If somebody I really cared about or mattered to me said 'why have you done that?', then that would bother me. "You can't care about what other people think," he told BBC Radio Wales Sport. His response has been to grow a thick skin. He has also masterminded some of the biggest transfers and Jones is well aware of the ire some of his work has attracted from fans. Jones has represented - or 'managed', as he prefers to put it - many of the biggest names in Welsh rugby, including Sam Warburton, James Hook, Rhys Webb, Josh Adams and Gareth Anscombe. It has not always made him popular with fans - but Jones is not concerned. It is for his role as one of the most influential player agents in rugby for the past 20 years that the 52-year-old has now become best known. Derwyn Jones has always been hard to miss - at 6ft 10in he is the tallest player to ever play for Wales.Įven after retiring from a playing career that brought 19 caps and a European Cup final appearance, Jones has remained at the heart of the game.
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