Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones is in training with Wayne Pivac’s team and says they are looking forward to the 2021 Guinness Six Nations.
Jones suffered a knee injury in the Autumn Nations Cup win over Italy on December 5 and hasn’t been able to play since. It means he missed some fine Ospreys wins over the last month.
The 35-year-old – who is world rugby’s most capped player – has been involved in the Six Nations Championship since 2007.
Jones hopes Pivac’s side can build on their finale to 2020 – one in which they blooded a number of new faces – when the Six Nations begins.
“I’ve been up and running for a couple of weeks back at the Ospreys. There was a bit of a handover and now I’m back in team training,” he said.
“I’ve been very fortunate to be involved in quite a few Six Nations and I’m here again. For a number of years people have put sell-by dates on certain things. I was a fan before I pulled on this jersey and to hopefully be in it again out on the field still means a great deal.
“My frustration with the Autumn Nations Cup was I was injured and I couldn’t get back to play for the Ospreys.”
Wales kick-off their 2021 Six Nations at home to Ireland on Sunday, February 7.
Jones added: “We developed strength in depth in the Autumn Nations Cup. I said to some of the guys it was arguably a watershed moment in terms of the number of caps that were gained.”
“You probably wouldn’t have seen that over two-and-a-half or three years previously.
“It had to be done and we took a bit of hurt doing that, but we have a squad now that’s exciting and excited to prove a point in this Six Nations with a layer of experience and other internationals who have not been selected for this campaign ready to step into the breach.”