Josh Jones (rugby)

Josh Jones

Personal information
Full name	Joshua Daniel Jones [1]
Born	(1993-05-12) 12 May 1993 (age 31) Leyland, Lancashire, England
Playing information
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.84 m) [2]
Weight	15 st 10 lb (100 kg) [2]
Rugby league
Position	Second-row, Centre, Loose forward
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 2012–15 St Helens 94 25 0 0 100 2014(loan) → Rochdale Hornets 2 0 0 0 0 2015(loan) → York City Knights 1 1 0 0 4 2016–19 Salford Red Devils 114 19 0 0 76 2020 Hull F.C. 7 0 0 0 0 2021–23 Huddersfield Giants 51 9 0 0 36 Total 269 54 0 0 216 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 2019 Great Britain 3 0 0 0 0
Rugby union
Position	Centre
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 2015–16 Exeter Chiefs 3 0 0 0 0 2015(loan) → Taunton 2 0 0 0 0 Total 5 0 0 0 0
Source: [3] [4]

Joshua Jones (born 12 May 1993) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played as a centre or second-row forward.

He started his professional career at Super League side St Helens (Heritage № 1196), with whom he won the 2014 Super League Grand Final. He spent time on loan from Saints at Rochdale Hornets and York City Knights. After a brief spell playing rugby union for the Exeter Chiefs in the English Rugby Premiership, and time on loan at Taunton, Jones returned to rugby league with the Salford Red Devils, featuring for the club in the 2019 Super League Grand Final. He then briefly played for Hull (Heritage № 1155) before finishing his career at Huddersfield Giants.

Jones represented Great Britain at international level, and was capped three times during the 2019 Lions tour.

Background

Jones was born in Leyland, Lancashire, England.

Early career

Jones signed for St Helens as a 16-year-old in 2009 from Blackbrook Royals, after previously playing for Chorley Panthers and Leyland Warriors. He has international honours from his youth rugby days; playing for England under 16s against France Schoolboys in 2009. ^[5]

Playing career

St Helens

In June 2012, Jones signed a three-year contract with St Helens. ^[6]

St Helens reached the 2014 Super League Grand Final, and Jones was selected to play at centre in their 14-6 victory over the Wigan Warriors at Old Trafford. ^{[7] [8] [9] [10]}

Exeter Chiefs

On 17 June 2015 it was announced that Jones would be switching to rugby union to play for Aviva Premiership club Exeter Chiefs for the 2015-16 season. ^[11]

Salford Red Devils

However Jones' spell in rugby union did not last long, citing personal reasons, where he switched back to rugby league for the start of the 2016 Super League season, signing for Salford. ^[12]

He played in the 2019 Super League Grand Final defeat against St. Helens at Old Trafford. ^{[13] [14] [15]}

Hull F.C.

Jones played for Hull F.C. in the 2020 season.

Huddersfield Giants

On 24 December 2020 it was announced that Jones would join the Huddersfield Giants for the 2021 season. ^[16] In round 15 of the 2021 Super League season, he was sent off after the full-time siren for fighting in Huddersfield's 40-26 victory over Hull F.C. ^[17] On 28 May 2022, he played for Huddersfield in their 2022 Challenge Cup Final loss to Wigan. ^[18]

Jones was kept sidelined for most of the 2023 season due to concussion-related issues. In September 2023, Jones was released by Huddersfield, ^[19] and he announced his retirement shortly afterwards. ^[20]

International

He was selected in squad for the 2019 Great Britain Lions tour of the Southern Hemisphere. ^[21] He made his Great Britain test debut in the defeat by Tonga. ^[22]

References

1. Companies House
2. "Joshua Jones St Helens". www.superleague.co.uk. Rugby Football League. 2015. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
3. RLP
4. "Player Summary: Josh Jones". Rugby League Records. Rugby League Record Keepers Club. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
5. "St Helens Profile". saintsrlfc.com. 30 April 2011. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
6. "Josh Jones" . Retrieved 9 June 2012.
7. Cartwright, Phil (11 October 2014). "St Helens v Wigan as it happened". BBC Sport . BBC . Retrieved 12 October 2014.
8. "St Helens 14 Wigan Warriors 6: Moment of madness from Wales international Ben Flower costs Wigan dear". Daily Telegraph. 11 October 2014. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
9. "St Helens win Grand Final after Wigan's Ben Flower is sent off". Guardian. 11 October 2014. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
10. "St Helens 14–6 Wigan Warriors". BBC Sport. 11 October 2014. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
11. Critchley, Mike. "Josh Jones to switch codes with Exeter Chiefs at the end of the season". St Helens Star. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
12. "Josh Jones returns to league code with Salford Red Devils". Sky Sports. 14 January 2016. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
13. "St Helens give Justin Holbrook the perfect send-off with commanding Grand Final victory over Salford". Telegraph. 12 October 2019. Retrieved 25 October 2019.
14. "St Helens 23-6 Salford Red Devils: Super League Grand Final – as it happened". The Guardian.
15. "St Helens win 2019 Super League League Leaders' shield". Sky Sports.
16. "Huddersfield Giants: Josh Jones and Luke Yates join Super League club". BBC Sport. 24 December 2020. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
17. "Four tries from Jermaine McGillvary help Huddersfield Giants to 40-26 win over Hull FC". www.skysports.com.
18. "Challenge Cup player ratings as numerous stars shine in enthralling contest". www.examinerlive.co.uk.
19. "Josh Jones: Huddersfield Giants release Great Britain back-rower amid concussion-related issues". BBC Sport. 11 September 2023. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
20. "Josh Jones: Former Great Britain, St Helens & Salford back-rower retires due to concussion issues". BBC Sport. 19 September 2023. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
21. "Zak Hardaker shock inclusion in 24-man Great Britain squad for tour of New Zealand and Papua New Guinea". Telegraph. 14 October 2019. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
22. "Great Britain left bruised at Tonga party". Times. 26 October 2019. Retrieved 29 October 2019.

External links

• Salford Red Devils profile
• SL profile
• Saints Heritage Society profile