Dragons second row Adam Jones announces his immediate retirement from rugby

DRAGONS second row Adam Jones is retiring from the game with immediate effect at the age of 34.

The 34-year-old Swansea-born lock made 127 appearances for the region after joining from the Scarlets in 2007.

Jones paid tribute to the region and insisted they are on the right track under the leadership of head coach Lyn Jones.

He said: “I would like to thank everyone at Rodney Parade, who have made my time such an enjoyable experience and helping me to further my rugby career.

“I have been playing professionally for about 16 years and I have definitely watched the Dragons squad grow throughout the years and have their ups and downs, season to season.

“But with the likes of Lyn Jones here I think that it’s a step in the right direction. I can see the club becoming one of the best clubs in Wales and am disappointed to be leaving at this time.”

While the Dragons have made some progress under coach Jones, they suffered one of their worst results of the campaign when they went down 24-8 against Connacht at Rodney Parade on Sunday.

And centre Ashley Smith says the Gwent side must ensure the donkey work they have got through this term does not go to waste in the remaining month of the season.

“Connacht was a massive missed opportunity but it has gone now and we have to move on,” said Smith, who was called from the bench early in the second half of the clash with the Irish province.

“There is still a lot to play for and we need to put things right against Zebre. We don’t want the season to peter out and we spoke as a group right after Sunday’s game and said that there is still a massive opportunity.

“It is still in our own hands, we have the Scarlets to play (in the penultimate game of the season) and we have to finish strongly.

“We owe that to ourselves because it has been a decent season; not an amazing one but there have definitely been improvements.”

The Dragons have already matched their 2012/13 tally of six wins and 28 points, but Smith says it is important they do better to show they are moving in the right direction.

“As players we want to be as high up the league as possible,” he said.

“We know that we are not going to jump from 11th to first but we want to see an improvement.

“We want to make progress and take some steps this season and more next year. Lyn talks about his plans for the future and we are going in the right direction but we can’t have performances like the one against Connacht.”

Article source: http://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/347499/England-20-Australia-28-Jonny-Thurston-too-good-for-brave-England

Dragons second row Adam Jones announces his immediate retirement from rugby