Around the Touchline Feature:

 

 
Craig Jones is always a pleasure to meet around the touchlines at Haverfordwest Rugby Club because this quietly-spoken gentleman of the game has been involved with The Blues since his youth, a few years in the Army apart, and played for a number of years in the first team, and coached right up to first team level.
 
He also served as the players’ rep on the club’s management committee for a long time and stayed a member for a number of years afterwards - and is rightly proud he was honoured with being chairman as a relatively young man where he received every help and good advice from club stalwarts like the late Ivor Rees and Cyril ‘Foxy’ Davies.
 
“I also had real support from the likes of David George and Frank Thomas, with officials of the experience of Charles Davies (Hon Secretary), plus Tom Williams and then Brian Stephens as Hon Treasurers.
 
“The committee was also very strong and experienced in those days and so I can honestly say that I enjoyed my time in the club’s administration and even though I have stepped down now I still love going to the club for a pint with long-held friends and rarely miss a match because it is good to see the talented young players we are developing at the moment under coaches Matthew John, Simon Lepetit and Steve Barnett, with John Summons and Justin Mountstevens always busy behind the scenes.”
 

Started out in Haverfordwest Grammar School

 
Craig started his own playing days at Haverfordwest Grammar School, where he was lucky to be coached by Ronnie James, who was like a breath of fresh air when he came from Milford Central School.
“I played full back alongside quality players like Mark Phillips and Alan Cunningham and during my time in the first team we beat Christ College Brecon and Llandovery College.
 
“Then I moved into youth team rugby where Peter Morgan and a young Geraint John were the leading lights.”
 

More rugby as he joined the Royal Regiment of Wales at 17

 
But at 17 I joined The Army and was off to Crickhowell for my basic training with the Royal Regiment of Wales.
 
“I soon settled in but always found running to the top of The Sugarloaf Mountain as our Friday ‘treat’ something that I dreaded - but it must have got me fit because I was playing lots of rugby and represented the regiment in two Army Cup Finals, which were played at the superb facilities at The Aldershot Military Stadium.
 
“We won one and lost one and it was nice to play alongside Terry Main, a back rower with Pembroke Dock Quins who was always renowned for his super-fitness, Tony Huddleston of Neyland and Tony Mason, from Cardiff but has lived in Cardigan for a number of years, and who went on to become a Major and is a former coach and still a great supporter of Cardigan RFC - and by then I had reached the giddy heights of being a Lance Corporal!
 
“I was also selected for the Army Junior XV against The Navy and later the RAF so at 19 I had played twice at Twickenham and we had won both games to become British Armed Forces champions - and then I went with the squad to go on tour abroad and we played the Germany and Holland squads at Colts level, out equivalent of the youth game.
 
“During my time in the RRW I was also chosen for the senior Army team and in one of the matches where I was on the bench we lost to Llanelli on the eve of the England v Wales match - and in the opposition were my old friends from Haverfordwest Peter Morgan and Michael Griffiths.
 
“That made it three Haverfordwest boys in the game and after a couple of drinks I managed to sneak them into the barracks and after eventually finding a bed that would take Mike’s very long frame we had a night’s sleep before we all drove back to Haverfordwest and watched the international in The Blues’ clubhouse!”




 

Back to Haverfordwest and joined a very good Blues’ team

 
At 21 Craig decided it was time to leave The Army and he became part of a very strong Blues’ team  that in 1981/82 won the double of league and cup as Gelly James was coach after dislocating his thumb and being unable to play, with talented players like flanker Keith Fleming, prop Brian ‘Ginger’ Davies, full back Colin Bolderson,  No 10 Billy Martin, hooker John Griffiths, the Griffiths brothers Nigel and Steven on the wings and skipper Peter ‘Gog’ Griffiths as outstanding players alongside emerging players like Randall Evans and Peter Hughes - so he was honoured to be chosen as ‘Clubman of the Year’.
 
But at 30 he sustained nasty damage to his ACL ligament in a match against Narberth and can still remember that the first player to come to his help was The Otters’ full back Geraint Bowen, a tough player but a true sportsman - and after that he was happy to help out in the seconds, including a spell where he was captain.




 

Sunday morning coaches starts a new path in rugby . . .

 
After playing, Sunday morning coaching with the Young Blues started when Craig got involved with Dasos Zangouras and Mark Griffiths in the U-11’s which he took through to U-16’s. The team was very successful, being Pembrokeshire Champions for five years in succession and included the likes of Simon Gardiner, Dan Birch, David Zangouras, Mikie Jones, Lee Summons, Matthew Kiff and Will Bowen.
 
Craig was then invited to take on the Head Coach role at Haverfordwest with assistants Andrew Thicker and Dan Field, where together they enjoyed a three-year stint with captains Steve Williams and Gareth Phillips.



 

. . . Followed by a team manager’s role

 
Following a couple of years off after his role as Head Coach of Haverfordwest RFC, Andrew Thicker and Peter Hughes invited Craig to become Team Manager of the Youth Team which they were coaching at the time. He did this role for seven years and re-joined the Club Committee as Youth Team Representative.
 
“We had some great fun as we adopted some great junior teams which had come through the club under the coaching of the likes of Jeff Clout, Arthur Daye, Peter Williams and John Williams.”
 
Craig eventually gave up the Youth Team role at the onset of COVID and at the end of it had decided it was time for the next generation to take over but it gives him great satisfaction today to see so many of them like, Tom Carrington, Jack Clancy, Will Blackburn, Lewis Tingay, Jake Morgan, Jonny White and Jack Evans now playing for Haverfordwest 1^st XV along with old timers Mikie Jones and Lee Summons from his Junior Coaching days.
 
Craig has always been one for a good tour and he has taken Haverfordwest Youth Teams to Shannon, Dublin and Edinburgh and been on four Lions Tours and to the Las Vegas and Hong Kong 7’s.




 

Family Matters . . .

 
Family has always played a huge part in his life and he would be super-quick to acknowledge the ‘fantastic support’ given by his wife Sandra since she has understood his sporting passions since they first went out together in their school days.
 
“Sandra has certainly been the guiding light behind our sporting family, where our sons Steven and Michael have been heavily involved.
 
“Steven played rugby as a youngster but then moved into sports media after studying at Westminster University and then moving on to Radio Five Live, which meant a move to Salford as an assistant producer and the chance to travel world-wide reporting alongside Sam Warburton, Joe Marler and cyclist Geraint Thomas - and attending great occasions like The Lions Tours and London Olympics, plus top tennis and golf tournaments around the world.
 
“Michael plays rugby and cricket for Haverfordwest, where he has played in Harrison-Allen Bowl Finals after having the late Steve James as a wonderful mentor, alongside Micky Phillips and his son Chris as good pals, and Richard Scriven whilst playing for a spell in the seconds.
 
“In rugby he plays outside half for The Blues and is now back in action after injury and helped with the first team on Saturdays as a very loyal club member who is now a Coaching Development Officer with The Scarlets in the north of the county - and in the last year has been a hub officer for the Welsh Rugby Union in the Haverfordwest area and has just returned from a great trip with his youngsters to Rosslyn Park.”
 

Craig also loves his local cricket

 
In the summer Craig loves watching Michael play cricket on The Racecourse and he also supports Hook, where he is back living after starting out there with the village’s junior team that won the under 14s with players of the quality of Keith James, Gary and Geoff Martin.
 
“I was a bit of a middle-order batsman who liked to get on with the run rate and at 16 I played for the Hook first team that had great characters like Evan Martin, Terry Hitchings, Gerald Thomas  and Brian ‘Juno’ John so now that we are back living in the village it is also nice to sit on a boundary bench and watch today’s very talented young players.
 
So I get the best of both worlds as I meet old friends around the touchline from September to April and around the boundary for the summer months!