He won 14 caps for Wales, played in six Tests on two Lions tours, won a Blue in his one year at Oxford and scored a try in Cardiff’s win over the Wallabies in 1966. After retiring from rugby at 27, he worked for the Confederation of British Industry in Wales.
He was part of a team charged with attracting inward investment from Japanese companies and helped to attract Takiron, the plastics subsidiary of Itochu, one of Japan’s biggest trading companies, to Wales.
When the Takiron plant opened in Bedwas in 1972 it was headline news – the first company from Japan to come to Wales and only the second to start manufacturing in Britain. Jones became its managing direction and then chairman in the eighties and nineties.
He was also on the board of governors of Cardiff University and the University of Wales, as well as chairman of governors of the Museum of Welsh Life, St Fagan’s and a council member of the National Museum of Wales.
Born in Carmarthen, he lived in Cross Hands and then attended Gwendraeth Grammar School. He enjoyed a brilliant career as a schoolboy, winning 11 caps at Under15 and U19 age levels and losing only once.
He was in the Wales U15 team that beat the South of Scotland and England, and then spent three years in the senior schools team, captaining the team in his final two seasons. Having won eight games in a row against Yorkshire Schools, England and France, he lost his final game, 3-0, to the French in Cardiff.
He made his Llanelli debut while still at school and was in the team that won the Snelling Sevens title for the first time in April, 1960, while still a teenager. He went to Cardiff University later that year and joined Llanelli full time at the start of the 1960-61 season.
He made an immediate impression and played at No 10 against the touring Springboks in tandem with Onllwyn Brace at half-back. The South Africans, who remained unbeaten until their final fixture against the Barbarians, won 21-0.
Within a couple of years he was doing battle with the ‘Boks once again as part of the 1962 British & Irish Lions squad. He earned his first Welsh trial within three months of entering senior rugby and made his Wales debut at centre against England at Twickenham on 20 January, 1962 in a game that ended in a 0-0 draw.
He held his place for the games against Scotland and France and then played in the hangover match against the Irish in Dublin that was postponed to the following season due to a smallpox outbreak. By the time the Irish game was played, Jones had toured with the Lions in South Africa, playing in 13 games and scoring nine tries in 13 appearances. He played in the first three Tests and scored the try 10 minutes from time that enabled the Lions to draw the opening international in Johannesburg ,3-3. He jinked through the defence and then sprint 60 metres to score.
He was back in South Africa two years later when Wales made their first overseas tour, this time on the end of 24-3 defeat in Durban. He also toured there with Cardiff in 1967.
Having made 140 appearances for Llanelli between 1960-65, including forming “a deadly midfield combination” with Gerald Davies in the 1964-65 season, he moved east to Cardiff with former schoolmate Rob Morgan, the Wales wing. Davies soon followed and the two men were reunited at centre for the 1966 win over the Wallabies.
Jones won 10 of his 14 caps from Llanelli and four from Cardiff, where he made 104 appearances over five seasons, including a game against the 1969 Springboks. He was also selected for a second Lions tour in 1966 to Australia and New Zealand, one of 11 Welshmen.
It was one of the longest Lions tours of all-time, the players leaving on 30 April and returning home on 19 September after playing 35 matches in Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
Having played in the two test wins over the Wallabies, Jones featured in the first Test in New Zealand, but none of the other three. His 16 matches took his total for the Lions on two tours to 29.
During the Australian leg of the tour he was approached by the St George rugby league club and invited to switch codes. Leeds had already tried to break the bank for him, offering what would have been a world record fee of £12,000 for his services.
As well as playing five times for the Barbarians, and spending time at Old Deer Park playing for London Welsh, he played for Oxford University in the 1963 Varsity Match defeat to Cambridge at Twickenham. He also played for the Dark Blues against the 1963 touring All Blacks while studying for a masters degree at Merton College.
The WRU offers sincere condolences to the family and friends of ‘DK’.
David Kenneth Jones (Cap No 668): B: in Carmarthen, 7 August, 1941; D: Cardiff, 25 August, 2022; 14 Wales Caps / 6 Lions Tests
