Mark Jones Speaks Out: Full Ospreys Press Conference Transcript

How did you find out about the speculation? Jones: "The speculation that appeared a couple of nights ago came from my wife. She sent me screenshots of an article and that was the first that I'd heard that there was a preferred bidder that had got an opportunity for exclusivity with the WRU. "Then, within a few minutes, there was the article that it was actually Y11. So that's when I first heard about it and then you're trying to seek some more information off the back of that at eight or nine o'clock at night. Lack of clarity is what makes your job difficult? Don't have the answers with players putting their bodies on the line? Jones:"From a physical perspective, the players are going out there and putting their bodies on the line. It's a physically dangerous sport, contact sports are. "But obviously it affects people who are not on the field as well and those people are equally as important around preparing the players, making sure they're in a good place to get on the field as well. "It does make it difficult. I understand there's levels of conversations that happen way, way above my remit and my role and they have to remain private. "Where this has been very difficult is the leaks that have happened before our people and our family have been told what's coming out. That's the hard bit to deal with. "It's very difficult to control that, I appreciate that, when there's lots of people from different entities in the same room discussing things. But that's the frustrating bit, we're hearing it second-hand and sometimes through my children or my partner. Everybody else is the same. "They're asking questions, rightly so, and you don't have the answers because you've not had the opportunity to ask your own questions. That's the most difficult thing to manage at the moment." Feels like a betrayal from Y11? Jones:"I think it just depends what it looks like. What does buying Cardiff mean? I think that's what the question on everybody's lips is. "That's the crucial bit, what does it mean? Then you can decide whether it's a betrayal or not. "But we don't know what the why is behind it at the moment, so once we get that and we understand what the why is and what the plan behind that is, and what it looks like for each individual and the team, then I think you can decide whether you think it's a good thing or not." When was the last time you spoke to anyone from Y11? Jones:"The last person I have spoken to would have been Rob Davies when we were away over in the European competitions. He came to France to support us in Montauban and he was at our Zebre game recently. "So we've caught up with Rob, he quite often comes out with the team on the away trips and says hello to the players and just is visible with the staff. Everybody really enjoys his company. "That's the last time we had a catch-up face-to-face with anybody. I've met James and the board online once and twice, but face-to-face, it would have been Rob. Do you personally think there's need for change? Jones:"Look, it's all based on what you can afford, isn't it? Everybody, I presume, would like a nice five-bedroom house with a driveway etc, but you have to live within your means and you have to have what you can afford. "But if you're asking me if four teams is the right amount of teams for Welsh rugby, I believe it is, if they can be funded properly and they can function properly so that high performance is going on in those four teams. "I think [four teams] represents the country pretty well at the moment, but obviously there's things I'm not aware of. There's financials, commercial issues that impact that massively, and I'm not privy to that. So it would be wrong for me to say it, as I don't have all the facts." Things have got to change, but could you even imagine no professional rugby in the region? Jones: "Well, look, I don't know if things have got to change. There's information that I'm not privy to around why certain decisions are being made. I'm not privy to it all. "We're told things have to change and that certainly is the narrative. But in answer to your question, professional rugby in this area is massive. I've lived in the area for 16, 17 years, my sons both played junior sport in the area, rugby. "They love the Ospreys, the junior teams in the area. It's awesome to have a team like the Ospreys there as a figurehead for young players to strive towards and putting the badge on your chest is an important part of people's 'why' in this area. "What I care about as someone who is coaching the team at the moment but lives in the area as well, I want that ambition to remain in the area for the youngsters, so they have a clear goal and a 'why' of why they want to play the game. "I think the Ospreys have to play a part in Welsh rugby moving forwards, that's one thing I'm absolutely sure about." Message to Ospreys fans? Jones: "It's difficult to tell somebody how to feel. That's a very personal thing. "But what I will say to the supporters is the players and ourselves, the staff, have talked around how we have a job to do to represent our region, our families, making sure that we in the next two games until the end of this block, we are 100% focused on getting as many league points as we can, because we want to be in those play-offs at the end of the year. "This is just going to focus us for the next two weeks around that. While all the distractions are going on in the background, it's not easy, but I know if a group can do it, it's this group. "I'm confident that on Friday night, the Ospreys supporters will see a group of men and women working on behalf of the Ospreys trying to get a result, and they'll be proud of the effort that they're seeing on the group." How are you coping, Mark? Jones: "We're all leading. That's one thing we try to do here, we try to give everybody the opportunity to lead in their own way. "Obviously, I'm the person that gets to sit in front of you guys on a more regular occasion, but we're all leading. What I try to do with any leadership is I try to be honest with the players. "Be up front, don't walk past things that are important to the group, respect people's opinion regardless of whether you agree with it or not, and try to empathise with them. "We've tried to do all of that and I think the staff, players have all equally tried to do it. So, we're dealing with it as a collective, not as an individual." How has this affected preparations for Lions on Friday night? Jones:"It's certainly not something you plan in to try and be high performance, that's for sure. As the coach, as a member of the Ospreys, it's not helpful at all, particularly when you hear it second-hand. "That's been the difficult thing to deal with, the shock of it. Then losing a day's training is not ideal either, the Lions are a very good team and we need to make sure every minute counts on the field. "What I will say about the players is we gave them space after the meeting and we've come in today, clearly there's still some distraction, but I have to say the way the boys have come in today, the energy they've brought, the enjoyment that they're trying to bring into the environment to make sure it's a fun place to be, the field session we've done off the back of that has been pretty good. I think that''s going to have definitely helped us in our ability to perform on Friday night." For next 18 months, jobs are safe? Jones: "That's what we were told, yeah, and we're carrying on as normal. To be fair, that's always been the case, right from when this started off around reducing the regions. "One of the first questions people would ask is, if there is a reduction and one team is reduced, how long have we got? It's always been consistent with that period of time, so nothing's changed there in that respect." Inclination from that meeting was that Y11 are interested in buying Cardiff? Jones:"Yeah, that was the feedback from the chief exec, they're in discussions with the WRU and Cardiff about what that looks like. "But we don't know as staff around the detail of that purchase, what it looks like, what it means for the Ospreys and Cardiff. "There's no information there around what that looks like, other than we know we're going to be carrying on as best we can in this year's competition and next year's competition, because that's a period of time where we've got our current funding deal signed and sealed and we have to honour." As it stands, where are the Ospreys? Jones: "We don't know yet. What we know from yesterday's meeting is that our owners are interested in discussing a potential purchase of Cardiff Rugby and we don't know anything around what that purchase looks like. "That's information that is going to be shared with the group in a short space of time, from our understanding from yesterday's meeting. "I think once we hear that information, I'll be in a much better position to talk around where we are." Reports that players left meeting early - would you say that was the case? Jones:"Yeah, it was, you know. Players were frustrated with some of what they were hearing, some were upset and just wanted their own space. "It's absolutely natural that individuals want to do that, fully support that. If you're in a place where you need some space, you need to go and get it. "That's just what happened, it was nothing major, it was one or two players. There was no issues around that." Players and coaches angry yesterday? Jones:"I think there was a variety of feelings actually, not just anger. There were different people feeling different things for different reasons. "Anger would have definitely been one, I think [there was] frustration, confusion, probably a bit of fear in the room as well around the unknown. If you don't know what's going on, in can create a lot of anxiety. "So, a lot of feelings in the room and that certainly presented itself through the meeting." Did you get clarity? Jones:"No, we didn't get anywhere near the amount of clarity that everybody was looking for, because there are so many things that are unknown. "It was a news article that broke, so it was all speculation and then obviously Lance has come in and tried to give as much information as he can. "But we're told that we're still a little way away from getting the full picture and he would prefer to tell us the whole picture as opposed to bits and pieces." How was yesterday? Jones: "It was a busy day, as you can imagine, for lots of different reasons. It was a big rugby day planned, from a preparation point of view and then obviously with what broke late in the evening the night before, clearly the focus of the day had to be around addressing that. "That speculation and trying to get some clarity for everyone in the room, staff and players, so that people can focus and get back on task with their day-to-day jobs. "We had to address that and as a result, we knocked training on the head. We felt like there would be more value in looking after our people off the field rather than the work on it." Welcome Hello and welcome to our live coverage of this afternoon's Ospreys press conference. We'll be hearing from head coach Mark Jones, with one topic set to dominate the agenda. That is of course the news that the WRU board has chosen Ospreys owners Y11 as their preferred new owners of Cardiff, a decision which has cast huge doubt over the club remaining in its current form. Stick with us to hear every word from Jones this afternoon.