The memory drifts back to a Christmas derby between the Ospreys and the Scarlets in Swansea and the hosts being awarded a penalty try to give them the lead early in the second half.
While pretty much every other home player was high-fiving, back-slapping or simply savouring the score — or, in Dan Biggar’s case, getting involved in a robust disagreement with half the Scarlets’ pack — Alun Wyn Jones sprinted back 70 metres in readiness for the next play.
Here was a captain telling his team and the crowd that there would be no resting on laurels. Effort would be intensified after the score. What an example to young players.
Plaudits seemed to arrive for him by the lorry load at that point, a situation which endured for a number of years thereafter. But nothing lasts forever and this season, perhaps for the first time in his career, there has been criticism of Jones, with the former South Africa prop Tendai ‘The Beast’ Mtawarira perhaps emboldening others to wade in when he called for the 37-year-old lock to retire after Wales’ heavy defeat by New Zealand.
“Alun Wyn Jones about time to retire... a good dancer knows when to leave the dance floor ...I am sure there is a young Welsh lock waiting for his turn in that jersey," posted Mtawarira on Twitter.
Jones’ response to receiving unsolicited career advice from an old rival hasn’t been documented. But it is to be assumed he wouldn’t have been happy. There again, a fair number were willing to endorse The Beast’s line or simply accept the idea that the Ospreys lock wasn’t quite operating at Test level these days.
Speaking to the BBC, ex-Wales forward Andrew Coombs said this week: “No disrespect to Alun Wyn Jones. He has been the greatest player Wales has possibly ever had in the pack, but at the moment it seems to me that his work-rate is not to Test level.”
Mark Ring, ultra-talented in his day, initially talked up Jones on Twitter, saying he'd had a great career, led the team "magnificently" and commanded huge respect from players and supporters. However, Ring then added: “He's kept his place because there's no-one to push him", adding that compared to others and for a while there had been better and more athletic and physical second rows playing for other teams. In fairness to Ring, he has held that view for a while.
But plenty of others on social media appeared to see the 55-23 hammering of Wayne Pivac's team at the hands of New Zealand as the cue to pile in. Was Jones that much off his game against the All Blacks? Some would say no more so than a lot of other players.
Official statistics credited him with 10 tackles, three carries for 17 metres and one lineout win in his 40 minutes on the field. By means of comparison, his fellow Ospreys lock Adam Beard spent the same number of minutes on the pitch and made one run for four metres, put in seven hits, passed the ball four times and won four lineouts. Not a huge difference between the two.
Of course, those are just raw stats. A second row’s work involves plenty of stuff that the statisticians don't always count: the grappling at mauls, the contributing of heavy-duty physicality in the close-quarter exchanges, scrummaging, the adding of nuisance value in all areas — even competing for turnovers on the floor. And there’s the chasing around the pitch. Against New Zealand, Jones was regularly in the lead two chasers from restarts, beaten by Rio Dyer once or twice, but always making the effort. He also put in some solid tackles on big All Blacks forwards such as Shannon Frizell, Akira Ioane, Tupou Vaa’i and, twice, on the powerful replacement hooker Samisoni Taukei’aho.
As efforts go, Jones’ wasn’t a bad one, leaving his head coach at the Ospreys a shade bemused at the subsequent reaction. “People take easy shots on things that they don’t know very much about,” said Toby Booth. “The person who knows where Alun is before he went into camp with Wales is me. He was one of our most consistent players. People can talk about whether that’s enough for international rugby, but he was playing exceptionally well and Wayne’s picked him for a reason. No coach in the world picks someone who he thinks isn’t capable. Ultimately, that’s the responsibility of the coach, so, if he’s picked him, he’s good enough.”
Ahead of Saturday’s autumn finale with Australia, for which Jones has been recalled after being left out for the games with Argentina and Georgia, there was more backing for Jones from his regional team-mate Scott Baldwin.
“He’s delivered for 150-odd Tests, so I’m pretty sure he’ll do a job at the weekend,” said the hooker. “I was actually quite surprised when he wasn’t involved in the second game of the series, against Argentina, because I thought when he came on against New Zealand he did well. His leadership is massive and so his experience.
“The Beast came out and said it’s time for him to retire. But I’m pretty sure Victor Matfield was rolled out in a wheelbarrow for the last World Cup he played in. Alun Wyn’s nowhere near that. It would take a brave man to tell Alun Wyn to retire, and I don’t think he’s anywhere near to retiring. It’s someone else’s job to take that jersey off him. It’s not his job to give it up.”
But Jones will be under scrutiny against Australia. He will know that. It’s international sport and there is no hiding place. Criticism is part of the deal as much as praise. But would he have been hurt by the comments after the New Zealand match?
“I’m sure he would have been,” said Baldwin. “If it was me — especially the point where he’s at and what he’s done in the game — I’d be annoyed with it. I’m somebody who’s played with Al for a long time and I was annoyed reading it and thought: ‘Who are you to tell a player when to retire?’ Al performed really well over his last few games for the Ospreys before going into camp. I’m sure he’ll do his speaking on the pitch.
“I remember a few years ago a few people said Dan Biggar was done. Since then he’s gone on to become a British and Irish Lions Test 10 and complete a hundred caps with Wales. Al will be a little bit annoyed, probably from the point of view that he knows The Beast, but I don’t think it’ll affect his game on Saturday. He’ll be revved up for it enough, anyway.”
Let’s see how the afternoon in Cardiff plays out.
Jones once said: “You’re as good as your next game, not your previous one, so I’ll focus on the next one.”
And being an intelligent and perceptive man, he will realise that a player can age in the space of a game.
Scott Gibbs was once handed off by Brian O’Driscoll in a Celtic League match at The Gnoll. Two league games later, Gibbs had retired as a player. Years later, O’Driscoll himself was stood up by Scarlets centre Gareth Maule and realised his own powers were on the wane.
No one beats time. But some do succeed in pushing it back.
So far, there hasn’t been a conclusive moment that screamed out it’s time for Jones to go. He will want to show The Beast he still has some dance-floor moves, however.
The result and team display will rightly dominate headlines at the final whistle in Cardiff. But how Jones performs will fascinate as well.
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