Ospreys must fulfil European promise, says Jones

THE Ospreys may boast an embarrassment of riches but Adam Jones admits there is growing sense of frustration within the Liberty Stadium at their under-achieving in Europe.

The star-studded Welsh outfit have a squad that reads like a who’s who of rugby. Mike Phillips is the highest paid player in British & Irish rugby after Brian O’Driscoll, Jones is widely regarded as perhaps the best tight-head in Europe while James Hook can currently name his price to an array of French suitors.

Add that trio to four more Lions in Ryan Jones, Alun Wyn Jones, Shane Williams and Lee Byrne, two former All Blacks in Marty Holah and Jerry Collins, and Irish Grand Slam winner Tommy Bowe, and it remains a mystery of European rugby that the Ospreys have yet to progress past the last eight.