The Wales outside half picked up one of the new ERC Elite Awards at a special ceremony held at the home of the Scarlets four days before their crunch Heineken Cup clash with Northampton Saints.
Also honoured by the tournament organisers were Welsh international forwards Chris Wyatt and Robin McBryde, who became only the second and third players to play 50 games in Europe’s top competiton, while director of rugby Gareth
Jenkins recevied a trophy on behalf of the club for reaching 50 matches. “Awards like these are great, but they are not so much about the individuals as the team. I couldn’t have reached this milestone without the help of my team mates,” said Jones.
“It’s nice to be presented with the trophy, but what we all really want is to go to Northampton on Sunday and book our ticket into the Heineken Cup quarter-finals.”
The Scarlets hopes were given a significant boost when international centre Mark Taylor was passed ift in training yesterday. Jenkins still has a few niggles to sort out, but expects to have a full squad to choose from at the weekend.
“We’ve enjoyed a fantastic journey in the Heineken Cup over the past eight years. I don’t think anyone thought when the tournament started in 1995 it was going to become as big as it has become,” said Jenkins.
“We’ve enjoyed all 53 games to date, and we all know there is a big match ahead of us at the weekend. I’m proud of what we’ve achieved in Europe to date and I’m looking forward to continued involvemetn and success.
“We’ve been close in two semi-finals so far. What we need to do now is nail the big one.”
