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Jones wants Wales to go through the gears against Scots

Plenty to ponder from Paris for Alun Wyn Jones and his Welsh team mates.

Jones wants Wales to go through the gears against Scots

Wales skipper Alun Wyn Jones believes his side can move up the gears this week as they prepare to bring the 2020 Guinness Six Nations to a close against Scotland at Parc Y Scarlets.

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Jones joined All Blacks legend Richie McCaw on 148 Test appearances in the 38-21 defeat to France in Paris and will make the world cap record his own if he leads the side on Saturday.

Now in his 14th year as an international player, and with three Grand Slams, two World Cup semi-finals and three British & Irish Lions tours behind him, he knows better than anyone what it takes to recover from a defeat and get back to winning ways.

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“We need to get better. In parts we were decent, but there are a number of gears we need to go up,” said Jones.

“We had a dream start getting that early score, but then we were under the cosh at the tail end of the first half. We came out and got some territory and possession in the early part of the second half.

“But credit to the French they were potent on the counter attack and capitalised.  Sometimes it can be dangerous to score so early and we didn’t take enough of our opportunities to see off the French.”

Wales head coach Wayne Pivac will not only review the injuries picked up in Paris this week, but also the performances of Liam Williams and Jonah Holmes, who were both released to play for their regions at the weekend.

“We’ll check on the bumps and the knocks from the guys in Paris before making a selection call in the middle of next week. We’ll review our own performance and we’ll also review Liam’s performance and at the same time,” said Pivac.

“Samson Lee was taken off with a head knock, so he’ll go through the normal protocols. The rest of the changing room is feeling quite sore after the biggest game they’ve played in a long time.

“They’ll all be better for that game and we needed it before Scotland next week. It was hugely important for all sides to have a competitive game because we’ve had seven months without international rugby.

“That’s a long period of time for anyone and you saw out there that a lot of our players had had a lack of big matches. That match was very important for us.

“Hopefully, we’ll be a lot better for that. We need to build on that performance for next week.”

The game in Paris saw Ospreys hooker Sam Parry and Gloucester wing Louis Rees-Zammit make their international debuts and they will be hoping for more chances this weekend and over the course of the Autumn Nations Cup.

“We were very pleased to get those two out there to experience the Test match arena. They’ve had a pretty good couple of weeks and are delighted to have been involved in the matchday 23 and get onto the park,” added Pivac.

“Like everyone else, they’re disappointed with the result. Sam had a good chunk of game time and was heavily involved, while Louis, for a young man, now has a taste of the Test arena and they’ll both be better for those performances.”

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