'I had a chat with Andy and I was gutted': Huw Jones on 'mental week'

Huw Jones admitted he had been riding an emotional rollercoaster, culminating in the British and Irish Lions clinching a series victory over Australia.

Andy Farrell’s men have returned to Sydney intent on becoming the first Lions team to complete a Test whitewash since the 1927 visit to Argentina – an aspiration made possible by Saturday’s gripping 29-26 triumph in Melbourne.

Jones was destined to miss one of the greatest matches in the tourists’ storied history after initially being left out of the starting XV, despite having impressed in the Suncorp Stadium opener.

But having been dropped for Garry Ringrose, he was reinstated at outside centre when the Ireland star self-reported a return of the concussion symptoms that had forced him to miss the first Test.

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“It was a pretty mental week. I had the initial disappointment of not being in the squad on the Tuesday,” Jones said.

“I had a chat with Andy and I was gutted. I got over that and was ready to get behind the boys.

“And then on Thursday we trained and Garry – to be fair to him – said his head just wasn’t right. I think he may have got a knock in the session and went to the doctor.

“That’s brave. And pulling yourself out as well. It was at the end of training, I had no idea that he was struggling,

“I chatted to Garry afterwards and he was emotional. Its one of those….you think ‘I’ll be all right’ but if it’s bad, it’s bad.

“But like people have said, it’s just a game. Your head’s very important, you only get one brain and all that.

“If he felt the need to say that he was struggling, then fair play to him. I just hope that he gets over it very quickly.

“I was gutted for him because he deserved to play and I know he would have been unbelievable. Sometimes that’s rugby and that’s sport.

“So I got a nod after that session. I was ready to step in and luckily I’d run some of the plays on Tuesday, so I was ready to go and got the job done.”

Jones played a key part in the Lions’ comeback from 18 points down after showing his strength to power over just before half-time, but it was Hugo Keenan’s dashing finish with 51 seconds left that ignited the celebrations.

Remarkably, Keenan’s try was the first time the Lions had led in the second Test.

“What a game. Unbelievable. We made it hard for ourselves, ill-discipline and all that, but came back at the end and Hugo….what a finish. It was a good feeling,” Jones said.

“It’s a cliche, but we never stopped believing, even at half-time. Even if we’d been further down, we still had the belief that we’d go on and win.”

Farrell has given his squad two days off to celebrate Saturday’s achievement with the players being joined by their friends and family.

They resume training on Tuesday when the Lions will begin plotting the downfall of the Wallabies for a third-successive weekend. Farrell is scheduled to name his starting XV and bench on Thursday.