DAFYDD JONES TESTIMONIAL YEAR

Dafydd Jones was born on the 24th June, 1979 and brought up in the village of Llanarth, just south of Aberaeron. He played his first game for the Scarlets on St. Valentine’s Day in 1997 against Leeds. Since then he has gone on to play 201 games for Llanelli Scarlets, scoring 24 tries, winning 115 matches, with 84 lost and 2 drawn. He has not played for the Scarlets since 23rd October 2009 when he suffered a shoulder injury while playing for Wales v’s New Zealand in November – a major blow both for the Scarlets and Wales for whom he has been a dynamic member of the back row fraternity when fit, which he hopes to be back fit by November this year. This will be welcome news especially for Scarlet supporters as well as Dafydd himself who is looking forward to making a significant contribution to the Scarlets campaign during this his Testimonial Year.

However, this is not the whole story. He has played in 47 Heineken European Cup games and it will be a proud moment for him and, indeed, his family when he gets presented with his cap for 50 Heineken Cup appearances.

Dafydd has played in 84 Celtic League games, won 42 caps for Wales(would have been more if he had remained injury free). His first cap for Wales was against Fiji on 9th November, 2002 and the last, to date, against New Zealand on 7th November, 2009. He has scored 2 tries for Wales –against Italy and Romania. In all, Dafydd has played against 15 countries during his Wales career, the most being 6 times against New Zealand and 6 against England. He captained Llanelli Scarlets against Exeter Chiefs, away, at the start of the 2007/8 season.

Gareth Jenkins thought so much of his potential when he was playing for Llanelli Youth in the 1996/7 season that he brought him into the senior side. He has been a member of the squad ever since.

Interestingly, Dafydd did not receive any schoolboy caps, although he played for the Wales 7-a-side team, the Welsh Development squad and Wales A .This was probably due to the fact that he enjoyed playing soccer in his early years – his first game of rugby did not occur until he was 14.

Dafydd was educated at Llanarth Junior Primary School and Aberaeron Comprehensive School, during which time he continued his soccer career for Newquay Cosmos, directing operations as a centre midfield player, much in the mould of a Steven Gerrard as one would expect of someone who’s always been a huge supporter of Liverpool FC.

Dafydd has enjoyed the unstinting support of his wife, Lynwen who is, incidentally, a member of his Testimonial Committee, while their 2 young children, Jac,3, who is already into football and rugby and Lili-Ela who celebrates her 2nd birthday as we go to print at the end of July. No doubt Lynwen & Dafydd will, one day, regale them with tales of Dafydd’s derring-do during his career with the Scarlets and Wales. Dafydd’s calm, courteous and affectionate manner as a shy and reticent family man(does Lynwen agree?!) belies his rip-roaring, tearaway and fearless approach once he steps onto the rugby field! With ball in hand and those long, loping strides - knees pumping the air, arm outstretched ready to hand-off any opposition brave enough to get in his way, he presents an awesome sight as he comes charging down the field, so much so in fact that one wonders whether his description above as a family man of innate courtesy is really true - over to you, once again, Lynwen.

For all Dafydd’s commitment and loyalty to the Scarlets over the years, I feel sure , as a former coach and chairman of the club, that Dafydd will get the support that he so richly deserves during his Testimonial Year..



John Maclean,

Chairman,
Dafydd Jones
Testimonial Committee.