Otniel Hembapu
Windhoek-Welsh national Lyn Jones, who was in late 2016 appointed by the Namibia Rugby Union (NRU) as head coach of the Namibian Currie Cup team for the competition’s 2017 campaign, is said to have severed ties with NRU.
Although NRU is yet to issue an official statement to that effect, reliable sources within the union revealed to New Era Sport that Jones is no longer head coach of the country’s Currie Cup squad after he vacated that seat late last year.
Even though details around his unceremonious departure remain sketchy, New Era Sport understands that Jones was not entirely happy with the revised remuneration package offered to him by the union to continue mentoring the Currie Cup side – and thus he opted to severe ties and return to his native Wales.
It was also recently reported by the Welsh media that Jones has since joined Welsh rugby side Neath RFC as a coaching consultant.
Formerly head coach of Ospreys and Dragons in the Welsh Premier Division, Jones is officially expected to start work at Neath RFC on February 19, with Neath believing they have pulled off a coup in luring back the man who still holds the record for winning the most silverware as a regional head coach, having guided the Ospreys to three trophies between 2003 and 2008.
As a player, Jones played for Neath between 1983 and 1990 and returned as coach to guide them to the Heineken League title in 1995-96, working alongside director of rugby Darryl Jones.
It is uncertain whether Gareth Llewellyn’s position as Neath head coach will be affected by Jones’s return. Neath are having the season from hell, not helped by a gruesome injury list that at one point saw Llewellyn turn up for training to find only nine fit players in his squad.
The club won only three out of 14 games when the Premiership was split along regional lines in the first half of the season, but injuries have continued to haunt them and they have started the 16-club section with two more defeats.
Three months ago, Llewellyn suggested Neath were battling the worst injury crisis he’d seen in 30 years in senior rugby, saying: “It has been horrendous”.
–Additional info: www.walesonline.co.uk