Warren Gatland’s men can clinch a Triple Crown at Twickenham with a victory over England on Saturday.
To most Welsh fans it doesn’t get much sweeter than beating th old enemy and the Stereophonics best summed up the attitude with their 1999 song, As long as we beat the English.
But Ospreys prop Jones insists Wales’ new generation aim to accomplish far more than just getting one over England.
“Beating England is not the only thing we want to achieve so gone are the days of the Stereophonics song,” said Jones.
“It used to be the case in Wales that the Championship was all about beating England and the rest didn’t matter.
“When Scott Gibbs scored his winning try in 1999, it was deemed to be the most fantastic thing and the Championship was saved. But the truth was that we finished fourth.
“We don’t look at beating England in that way anymore. I’m sure it’s still like that for a lot of Welsh people but we’re playing in a big tournament and every game is hard.
“However it is a massive game because of the Triple Crown. As much as we’re trying to calm ourselves down and relax emotionally, we know the country and fans are going to go mental if we win.”
Wales have been installed as favourites for the clash but have won just once at the home of English rugby since Bleddyn Bowen led the Dragons to victory in 1988.
Jones has tasted victory in four of his last six meetings with England, including the Twickenham triumph on the road to the 2008 Grand Slam, and he is ready for a high-octane showdown.
“We’ve got our hands full on Saturday, rather than the other way around,” added Jones.
“England have a good set-piece and are physical. It will be a massive pressure-cooker environment and we’ll struggle if we don’t get the basics right.
“Alex Corbisiero scrums very well and Dan Cole is the only tight-head I’ve seen who has been as dominant as he is at his age.
“People talk about [All Black prop] Carl Hayman but he wasn’t that dominant at Dan’s age. He’s one hell of a player and it’s down to Gethin Jenkins to control him.
“But we’ll try to dominate them up front and we’re confident we can win.
“Hopefully we can give our backs good ball. We’ve shown glimpses in the first games of what we can do but we haven’t put it together for a whole 80 minutes yet.
“There is still plenty more to come.”
Â
