WALES prop Rhodri Jones has paid tribute to former Newport Gwent Dragons forwards coach Danny Wilson for helping him to develop into a Test standard tighthead, writes Iwan Gabe Davies.

The 21-year-old Jones has been sprung into the limelight this autumn after he was the surprise call-up for the legendary Adam Jones who is out of action for the rest of the autumn internationals after injuring his calf in the 24-15 defeat to South Africa earlier this month.

The former loosehead, who has permanently swapped sides of the scrum, was once considered the fourth choice tighthead at his region the Scarlets.

But the farmer’s son from the village of Pennal, on the Gwynedd-Powys border just outside Machynlleth, has enjoyed a meteoric rise this November.

He enjoyed a steady enough first international start in the No 3 jersey on his third cap against the powerful Argentina front row last week, doing a respectable job in keeping the Pumas’ Leicester openside Marcos Ayerza relatively quiet in the 40-6 record win over the South Americans.

Once a member of the Dragons Under-18s squad before he left to pursue his studies at Llandovery College, Jones acknowledged the debt he owes to another Rodney Parade old boy in Wilson.

Former Wales Under-20s coach Wilson left the Gwent region as their forwards guru and has done wonders in charge of the Scarlets’ eight since heading west last year.

“Tighthead is a relatively new position for me, so I've been trying different techniques and things seem to be coming together now,” Jones said.

“I've done a lot of work at the Scarlets with Danny Wilson. It's about learning. Hopefully, I'll pick up a few more tips as I go along.”

The scale of Jones’ ascent this month is staggering, especially considering he was in action for semi-professional side Llanelli just a fortnight before the Pumas victory, scoring a try in a 27-3 win over the Wizards in the Principality Premiership.

“I was quite happy with how it went against Argentina,” he said. “But there's room for improvement – in the scrums on our ball – but I enjoyed it.

“Two weeks earlier I had been playing against Aberavon in the Premiership, so it was a massive step up to face Argentina. But I thought it went pretty well.”

Jones says Wales need to maintain the form they showed in the promising victory over Argentina into tomorrow night’s clash with Tonga: “We need to carry on from the weekend – it was our first autumn win since 2009 and we lost to Argentina the last time we played them before that so to put 40 points on them is very good. We have got to keep it up now.

“Tonga are going to be physical against us. We have just got to keep our intensity up and hopefully that will pay off for us.”