Adam Jones: "The club gave me my life."
About this episode
Adam Jones discusses his rugby career and the importance of local clubs in Wales.
In our third episode we are talking to Adam ‘Bomb’ Jones, the cornerstone of the Welsh pack for over a decade, earning 95 caps and achieving a legendary feat of 3 Six Nations grand slams and 5 British and Irish Lions test caps. He’s a legend of the game on and off the field. We had our conversation at Neath RFC, home of the original all blacks. The Gnoll is a tough place to play and is home to a rugby community that has forged some of Wales' and the world’s best players. It’s the epitome of Wales’ proud, historic, fierce and friendly rugby roots. It was so interesting to hear Bomb talk about how much his home club in Abercrave means to him and about his 40 games for Neath being his most important games – that he feels a greater emotional connection to his local teams, than to that of the national side. And it was fascinating to get the insight of someone who has experienced every level of the Welsh system and is now coaching in the English system, on what’s important and what works. It also really felt like there was a lot happening at the Gnoll when we were there, which as we talked about in the episode has recently become a CIC (Community Interest Company), these are companies…
People in this episode
Guest: Adam Jones
Topics covered
- rugby
- Welsh rugby
- community sports
- local clubs
- coaching
- athlete experiences
Keywords
- Adam Jones
- Neath RFC
- Welsh rugby
- community interest company
- rugby history
- local teams
- coaching
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Neath RFC
Places: Wales, Abercrave, Gnoll
More episodes of Beyond the Breakdown
- Summer special with Gareth Baber: “I recognise more now what it takes to be a top performer.”
- Dale 'Chief' McIntosh: We understood we weren’t just playing for ourselves
- Scott Baldwin: "I just loved the high pressure."
- Jon Fox Davies: "Being a professional rugby player in Wales, you understand responsibilities”
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