The former Wales and British & Irish Lions outside-half played under Dai Young at Wasps for two season’s before he joined the coaching staff last season. But he will be on his way home to Llanelli, where he racked 300 appearances and 1064 points for Llanelli RFC and the Scarlets.
He will replace attack coach and fellow Scarlets stalwart Mark Jones, who made 163 appearances for Llanelli RFC and the Scarlets over 12 seasons and scored a total of 85 tries.
Stephen Jones said: I’m really looking forward to returning to Wales and back to the Scarlets where it all began for me.
“I’m grateful to Dai and all at Wasps for giving me an opportunity to start my coaching career and am relishing the exciting challenges still ahead of us in the Aviva Premiership and in Europe this season. I’m looking forward to then heading back to West Wales and developing further at my home region.
“I have some fantastic memories from my time with Llanelli and the Scarlets, they have made Parc y Scarlets a fortress and have some exciting young players making their way through the ranks.”
47-cap winger Mark Jones will be looking to add to an already impressive list of coaching achievements since injury forced him to retire from playing in 2010. He joined the region as skills coach following his retirement before being called into the Wales ranks to in 2013 to assist Caretaker Coach Rob Howley during the Autumn Series, as well as the Six Nations, in which Wales retained their title, and the Summer Tour of Japan.
He said: “The Scarlets has been a huge part of my life and I’m thankful for the opportunities and experiences I’ve had over the years.
“As a coach it has been an honour and a privilege to play my part in helping develop players and see them achieve their dreams of playing for Wales and even the British & Irish Lions. I’d like to wish the players all the very best in their careers from now on; the Scarlets are in safe hands with the continuous development of young talented local players.
“The Scarlets has been the biggest part of my life but I feel that the time is right to further challenge myself, both personally and professionally, and I’m excited by the future and looking forward to the next chapter.”
