'Very grateful to him': What Stephen Jones learned from Tana Umaga

Stephen Jones was more than 11,000 miles away from Newcastle when he agreed to become a key figure in the birth of the Red Bulls as a new force in the Gallagher PREM after years of financial worries and poor results.

Jones, the former Wales and British and Irish Lions No.10, was working with a group of Moana Pasifika players as part of the pre-season build-up to the Super Rugby Pacific season in Auckland when he was offered the chance to join the Red Bulls.

Together with head coach, All Blacks legend Tana Umaga, and fellow coaches, attack coach Jones had guided Moana to their best ever finish in the competition under captain Ardie Savea, including a landmark victory over the Crusaders, the perennial Super Rugby champions.

After a Grand Slam-winning career with Wales, Jones moved to Wasps, where he transitioned from playing to coaching before heading back in that role to the Scarlets, eventually becoming the Wales backs coach under Wayne Pivac. Warren Gatland’s return to the head coach role saw Jones head to New Zealand in a dramatic switch to join Moana.

So, was Jones eyeing a return to the PREM? “I loved my time with Moana,” Jones, the Red Bulls attack and backs coach, told RugbyPass. “I had an amazing time with Moana and my family were out there, initially with me and then they came back (to Wales) for schooling.

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“I was still under contract (with Moana) and I had just done a little preseason block with about 30 players who were outside of our main group. So, I was out in Auckland training in North Harbour in about 27 degrees.

“I had a good chat with Tana, who was incredible. He was willing to let me have my ambition of coming back to the UK and I’m very, very grateful to him.

“Tana drove a wonderful environment and it was a lot of big learnings for me as a coach. How to upskill, how to develop a two-way relationship and how to play the game in a different way.

“I am loving it (at Newcastle), as simple as that. I had a wonderful welcome in the club and have found all the players and staff to be really accommodating. The playing group have been open-minded and I can’t sing people’s praises high enough. The club’s ambition is to be successful domestically; that’s exciting for everybody concerned with Newcastle Red Bulls. I was made aware of Red Bull’s ambition and what they want for the club.”

The takeover of Newcastle by Red Bull has transformed their finances and allowed the club to become one of the major drivers in the current round of big name signing, with England scrum-half Raffi Quirke the latest to move to Kingston Park from Sale Sharks. Amongst those Quirke will be joined by next season will be Josh Hodge (Exeter Chiefs), Rusi Tuima (Exeter Chiefs), Hoskins Sotutu (All Blacks), Franco Molina (Argentina) and Elliot Millar Mills (Scotland) with more big names set to be announced.

The current squad features former Crusaders captain Tom Christie, former Wales wing Liam Williams and England flyer Christian Wade, who knows all about Jones’s skills as an attacker. Wade was on the left wing for Wasps when Jones made his debut for the club and now they have both ended up in the North East, having taken very different routes.

While Jones has been in New Zealand, Wade left the Premiership to join the Buffalo Bills in the NFL, then headed to Racing 92 in Paris before returning to England and a spell in rugby league with Wigan.

Now they are back together, and Jones has been impressed with the impact his former team-mate has made on and off the pitch. He explained: “Christian’s pathway has taken him to, obviously, American football, to rugby in France and to rugby league. What a wonderful career he’s had.

“Working with him again is wonderful because he’s a great person. He brings a huge amount of energy to the squad and I love the knowledge he’s passing on to our younger players. He’s mentoring a lot of the young boys and sharing his learnings and his experiences with them and is having such a positive impact on this group.”

While importing proven international players will have an immediate impact on the Red Bulls, Jones acknowledges one of his key roles will be to maximise the talent that has all too often been lost to Newcastle, as other PREM clubs have raided their ranks for top young players. With the Red Bull money, Newcastle can now put a financial ring fence around the best youngsters to help minimise the need for future spending.

He added: “The playing group we have here has been fantastic. Yes, we’re aware that there are some players joining for next season, but the ability to retain the great talent that is produced by this club is key.

“The here and now is a very exciting challenge for us as a coaching group and as a playing group.”

Moulding the current squad into the kind of attacking force he wants is Jones’s first task and while there is obvious excitement about the signing for next season, he knows the building blocks of a successful club need to be put in place now. A European Challenge Cup win at the Dragons will continue their unbeaten run and they are favourites to land a home last 16 tie.

“The Dragons is a huge game for us and we want to keep on building and improving. This is all about just keeping momentum and growing our performances.”

After a morale-boosting 25-19 win over Gloucester to end nearly 400 days without a victory in the PREM was crucial and with sell-out 10,000 crowds regularly turning up, the club’s fortunes are changing, even if it’s only small steps. “It’s about developing good habits, challenging and growing this group because that’s how we should be,” said Jones.