Jones wary of French threat

Wales forward Alun-Wyn Jones has no doubt France will be major challengers for World Cup glory when they host this year’s tournament.

But the Ospreys star is determined to see Wales stall Les Bleus’ impressive momentum when the countries clash in a World Cup warm-up encounter at the Millennium Stadium on Sunday.

France displayed ominous signs for the tests ahead by recording back-to-back victories over England during the past 11 days.

They also underlined England’s attacking deficiencies by comfortably keeping the reigning world champions tryless in both games.

Wales are next in line for coach Bernard Laporte’s powerful squad, and Jones is relishing the challenge.

He said: “Any team that comes up against them in the World Cup is going to face the huge backing they attract. It will be like playing against 16 men.

“The flair France possess is second to none. They are definitely a big threat.

“I also rate the French defence very highly. But we went to Paris last season (in the RBS 6 Nations Championship) and scored a couple of tries, which bodes well for our attacking options.

“For us, it is about wanting to maintain our winning form going into the World Cup – and continue the momentum we gained from beating Argentina.

“It was a weight off the shoulders. It is sweeter when you win, and we have just got to try and maintain that.”

Jones is likely to feature in a Wales side which should see wing star Shane Williams unleashed for the first time this summer following his recovery from elbow surgery.

Changes are probable in other areas. But coach Gareth Jenkins will also want to run further checks on possible World Cup combinations which featured against Argentina, maybe including the 10/12 duo of James Hook and Gareth Thomas.

Assistant coach Nigel Davies said: “I think people do Gareth a disservice by saying that he is one type of player.

“He has got some very good, subtle skills. His passing ability is second to none within our squad, and there were a couple of occasions in the game where he put a little subtle pass in that made a difference and took us to another area.

“People should not write him off as not having the ability to play that type of game.

“Sometimes we want to play off our 12 more than our 10, and France might be a case in point here – because in the 10 channel they rush up, and maybe we will have more space and opportunity to play from the 12 channel.”

Davies is confident Wales have the capacity to do just that.

“I am quite comfortable Gareth Thomas can give us that option,” he said.

“I felt our first-half performance against Argentina was very good, particularly because we conceded an early try.

“We are trying to build confidence within the squad, and that score could have dented it badly, but the boys showed great character.

“I didn’t think Argentina were in the game in the first half, but in the second half we lost the plot.

“It is a concern, but we are quite clear where things are going wrong – and we are quite clear where we are losing our composure.”