Wales left ruing Jones error (From Western Telegraph)

Wales left ruing Jones error

6:30am Monday 8th February 2010 in

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ALUN Wyn Jones faces an anxious wait before discovering whether he must pay a hefty price for his Twickenham moment of madness.

Wales boss Warren Gatland was left fuming following lock Jones' blatant trip on England hooker Dylan Hartley.

It amounted to arguably the costliest sin-binning in Test history as England scored two tries and 17 unanswered points during Jones' ten-minute absence either side of half-time.

And it contributed heavily to Wales leaving Twickenham reeling from a 30-17 defeat, their heaviest in 11 Six Nations Tests under Gatland.

The coach is due to name his team tomorrow for this weekend's Millennium Stadium appointment with Scotland.

Jones, despite his monumental indiscretion, is likely to feature, but the 24-year-old British and Irish Lion knows he can take nothing for granted.

And his action could still attract the attention of match citing commissioner, Frenchman Jean-Claude Legendre, who can report Jones if he feels the offence should have warranted a red card from referee Alain Rolland.

Former England captain Phil Vickery served a two-match suspension during the 2007 World Cup after being cited for tripping United States centre Paul Emerick, so further action against Jones cannot be ruled out.

"It was a spur of the moment decision.’’ said Gatland, reflecting on Jones' misdemeanour.

"You've seen other good players do it before and get away with it. He's been caught. He did something stupid and obviously he will be regretting it.

"He is not renowned for doing those sort of things, so it was a bit of a surprise.

"We've got to be up front and honest with him. (Wales assistant coach) Shaun Edwards just said to him 'I hope you never do that again in your career'.

"You need 15 players on the pitch. You should trust the system and your team-mates, but on one or two occasions we didn't do that.’’ Wales went from being level to 20-3 behind while Jones watched from a seat in Twickenham's West Stand, and unlike on their last visit two years earlier, there was no successful fightback this time.

Tries by prop Adam Jones and centre James Hook brought Wales tantalisingly close, but they were finished off by James Haskell's second touchdown after Stephen Jones' pass was intercepted by England full-back Delon Armitage.

Gatland added: "We got back to 20-17 and showed what we were capable of doing with some quick ball, and we've got to keep building on that.

"The frustrating things were the yellow card and our lineout not functioning as well as it should have done.

"I thought we scrummaged really well. One of the things at half-time we stressed was that it was important to go out there and really have a go at the English scrum.

"Psychologically, it gave us some momentum and confidence in other areas. It gave us the self-belief.

"It's tough in those situations when you are 20-3 down just after half-time and you feel it is not your day, but the players kept working hard and got back into it.

"With six minutes to go, I thought we were going to win the match. Unfortunately, we threw an interception and then gave away another three points late on.

"There is a real frustration, but also a real pride that the guys came back the way they did.’’ Gatland must now prepare for the Scotland clash knowing title hopes are still alive, even if Grand Slam and Triple Crown dreams have been shattered for another season.

Hooker Huw Bennett, lock Ian Gough, flanker Jonathan Thomas and scrum-half Richie Rees all have strong claims for selection if Gatland decides changes need to be made.

"I think you will see a really positive reaction from the players against Scotland,’’ he said.

"If we go out and play and be as accurate as we can be, we will produce a good performance against Scotland.’’ And there was a rallying cry from Wales skipper Ryan Jones, who insisted: "We are one game into the tournament - it is not over yet.

"We have to move on because we play Scotland next week, and we have to make sure we start that game like we finished at Twickenham.’’