Jones ignites Wasps on debut (From Bucks Free Press)

Welsh fly half enjoys debut to remember

9:00am Monday 17th September 2012 in Sport By Alan Feldberg

STEPHEN Jones looks like being the latest in a line of players to come to Wasps at the tail-end of their careers and enjoy a rebirth.

The Welsh fly half made his debut in the win over London Irish on Saturday and couldn't have started any better, kicking nine out of nine to finish with 23 individual points and the Man of the Match award.

He impact was far greater than that though, and could be felt in almost every facet of Wasps as they turned a potentially anxious final half hour into a procession.

Jones said: “I'm delighted we won, even more so to get the bonus point. But victory was all-important. It was our first proper match at home this year.

“Their attacking game is awesome so we knew it was going to test our defensive set-up. We knew it would tough out there.”

Two late tries made it seem less tough than it was, but Jones admits the result was in serious doubt for long spells.

He said: “We were disjointed. We've got loads of areas that we've got to work on; the continuity of our game, the smoothness of the way we play.

“There is an eagerness in our game that sometimes gets in the way of our clarity. Sometimes we need to relax and little bit and have a bit more patience.

“In the first half there was an eagerness to go wide, but we hadn't earned the right to go wide and London Irish were cutting us down easily. We were a little bit smarter and more patient in the second half.”

And that's were Jones' real influence told, as he marshalled the young pawns around him into a winning position.

He said: “When you go into a new environment you keep your head down, knuckle down and work hard. Slowly you try and drip feed some information in, but at the end of the day you've signed as a player and you've still got to get your own house in order.

“But I can relate to where we are with Wasps. I enjoyed the experience with the Scarlets and it's a wonderful group of players with a hugely talented group of youngsters here.

“I feel honoured to be a part of it and hopefully pass on some experience to some of the quality players we have.”

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