By Whaley Shark
January 24 2011

So the convulsions, restructuring, reorganisations, whatever you want to call them, continue and Kingsley Jones is moving on in a few days time. The Whaley Shark tries to find out a bit more about our departing Director of Rugby.

Philip Kingsley Brian Jones made his name with some of the historic names of Welsh club rugby, Cross Keys, Ebbw Vale and (twice) Pontypridd. First capped against the Barbarians, he played across the back row for Wales, starting eight times, winning total of ten caps in the 96-97 and 97-98 seasons, and leading Wales in South Africa. He captained Gloucester in the English Premiership, before moving to Worcester, Pontypridd and then, looking beyond his playing career, to first a player-coach and then a coaching role at Doncaster. PSA, well known to Kingsley from shared times at Gloucester, brought him to Sale in 2004, initially as Forwards Coach, then Head Coach.

Kingsley shared fully in the highs and lows of the PSA era, starting with the ECC win over Pau at Oxford and following up the next season with the Premiership win, but then descending into mid-table mediocrity via the injury-riddled, relegation-threatened 2006-7 season. After PSA’s departure was announced in December 2008, Kingsley took on the Director of Rugby role. Kingsley’s reign as Director of Rugby must have been tough- PSA ripped the heart out of the squad as the lure of the French Riviera and lorry-loads of euros seduced away the younger Lobbe, Sebastien Bruno and other mainstays of the squad. Combined with the departure of other big names, including McAlister, Chabal, and Fauré, Kingsley was faced with an immediate rebuilding job. Over the following year or so, return visits from PSA saw further players move to Toulon and there was perhaps a sense that the squad no longer had the strength or depth that it once did.

That first half season as DoR must have been a very odd one for Kingsley. PSA was still around and it was obvious that many of the players were heading for the exit. Nevertheless we turned in some decent performances, finishing 5^th in the table. The following season should have been more clear-cut. Kingsley had started to shape the squad but “law interpretations” seemed to favour a very conservative game plan, and we developed a puzzling strategy based around endless kicking. Once the powers that be realised the futility of what they had done and changed those interpretations, it was too late for us. We had some key players out injured long term, lost confidence and seemed to go for a minimalist approach, especially away from home. Our form disintegrated after Christmas, we went nowhere in the Heineken Cup and scraped home 11^th in the table.

Further change was clearly in the offing, and was manifest in the short-lived Brewer regime. With that now supplanted by a return to Sale’s roots in the form of the Anglesea/Diamond partnership, and Kingsley himself saying “my real passion lies with coaching. I will be looking to get back into a role with more hands on coaching in the near future”, it sounds to me as if he’s leaving at the right time for himself and for Sale.

I’ve never met Kingsley, but people I know have, and they unanimously praise his good nature, knowledge of rugby, and willingness to chat to the fans. Certainly, even though Kingsley was dealt some pretty poor hands, I get the feeling he played them as well as he could, and there seems never to have been a peep of dissatisfaction in public. So farewell then, KJ- I hope you find a position which suits your undoubted talents, and thank you for all you have done for Sale.