Wales captain Jones targets cup double

Mar 24 2008 Simon Thomas, Western Mail

WALES captain Ryan Jones is setting his sights on securing a famous cup double with the Ospreys to go with the Grand Slam.

Jones is convinced he can add the EDF and Heineken Cups to the Triple Crown and Six Nations trophies he has already hoisted this season.

The Ospreys booked their place in the final of the Anglo-Welsh EDF tournament against Leicester Tigers on April 12 with a resounding 30-3 demolition of Saracens at the Millennium Stadium.

That has set up a repeat of last season’s Twickenham final and skipper Jones insists the star-studded Welsh region are intent on gaining revenge for their defeat at HQ a year ago.

He says they have also laid down a huge marker ahead of their Heineken Cup quarter-final rematch with Sarries at Vicarage Road in 13 days’ time.

Jones believes opportunity is knocking for the Ospreys and they intend making the most of it.

“Throughout your career you get very few opportunities to win silverware in your club colours,” said the Wales and Lions No 8.

“I’m extremely proud of where we’ve come from as a region.

“A lot of us have been together a long time and we’ve really grown as a team and matured from the experiences we’ve had, both in this jersey and the red one. We are using those to move the Ospreys forward.

“We believe we can go one step further in the EDF competition than last year and we believe we can win Europe. I’m extremely confident in this group of individuals.

“It was hugely disappointing 12 months ago to lose to Leicester in the final, but we learned from it. We’ve come a long way and I’m really happy for the boys that we are off to Twickenham again.

“That’s fantastic. It’s another great day out and hopefully we’ll set the record book straight because we owe Leicester one after last year.

“We aim to go one better this time as over the last 12 months, we’ve worked extremely hard.

“We believe we are good enough to figure in these major competitions year in, year out and that’s what our target is.”

Turning to the Euro rematch with Saracens in a fortnight, Jones believes the Ospreys have struck a significant psychological blow with their resounding victory over the Guinness Premiership outfit in Saturday’s EDF semi-final.

“We will take a lot of confidence out of that going into the Heineken Cup game,” he said. “It’s just a huge marker for two weeks time. It was a great win.

“We had a huge high last week with Wales, but we came back in on Tuesday and refocused.

“The motivation was to go out in front of all our fans, who have been superb all year, and wear the Ospreys jersey with pride and try and put on a performance for them.

“The way the players managed themselves in the build-up to the game was fantastic and, as a captain, I couldn’t have asked any more of the guys.

“I thought we were extremely professional and to only concede three points was great. But by no means is the work done. We have got two weeks of hard work ahead of us to iron out a few areas.”

The man of the match award went to fellow Grand Slam hero Gavin Henson, who set up the first try for razor-sharp Shane Williams with a big tackle and scored the second himself.

“It was brilliant. We worked hard and carried on from Wales,” said Henson. “It was just enjoyable and great to keep them scoreless at the end and not to let them in for a try.

“The boys are really happy, but we know there’s a return game up at Saracens in a couple of weeks time, so we can’t get too ahead of ourselves. We’ve got a big day out at Twickenham as well, which will be good.

“It was Wales last week and it’s Ospreys now. There are a lot of players in the squad who weren’t part of the Welsh team and they played their part as well.

“Obviously it’s given confidence to the camp what has happened with Wales, but there’s always confidence and belief here.”

Skipper Jones also paid tribute to wing wizard Shane Williams, who scored two more tries to add to his six for Wales during the Grand Slam campaign.

“Shane is world class,” he said. “Shaun Edwards described him as a predator and I think that’s the best way to describe him. If there’s half a chance, half an opportunity, he’ll jump on it.”