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Mark Jones Announces His Departure

Mark Jones Announces His Departure 19 May 2019

Head Coach Mark Jones announces his departure

After 3 years at the helm of the North Wales Region, Head Coach Mark Jones announced his departure after his sides final game of the season against Cardiff. It was fitting that supporters witnessed a win with 9 tries of quality running and attacking flair which has been the brand of rugby Jones has overseen in the past 3 seasons. Mark Jones - First off I want to thank everyone involved at RGC for giving me the opportunity to coach the team. My 3-year remit was to keep the team in the Principality Premiership and as well as look at the performance development of the players. My biggest achievement is seeing the opportunities created for the players ; Professional Contracts, B&;I Cup appearances and the number of youngsters that have worn the jersey in the Premiership for RGC especially this season. North Wales is unique and has it's challenges. Along with Phil John we have worked hard to bring that semi-professional coaching with players who are students, work full time and work shifts and to balance that with training, games and the amount of travelling on away trips has been a fine balance. When you add in the Age Grade aspect as well then have had to creative in how we achieved this, which is a credit to Josh Leach and Gaz Whittaker and how we have put it all in place. I think we, along with players and supporters can agree that it has, and continues to work well. I have also had to do many things that haven't been part of the job description, and the big thing in North Wales is that the team up here just get on with it, even if it isnt under their remit. The supporters have been superb to me, and stood by me with every win or defeat and they have played a huge part in what we have achieved. There is a thirst for rugby in North Wales, and we have had the highest average attendances in the league and took big numbers to the Principality Stadium for our Cup win. More people are playing the game, and the clubs are doing a great job in providing that pathway for the Academy, so I would also like to thank the work of the community team across the Region. Another person I need to thank is Sion Jones, who as GM I have worked closely with over the past 3 years and has been a big part of the journey. All the good work that was done before I arrived gave me the chance to build on, and take RGC on further and I hope that the people that come in next will do the same. It has been a team effort, and the only thing left is to say Thank You.