[1] He made his first-class debut for Neath RFC in 1999 and played for the club until the end of the 2002–03 season, when, following a reorganisation of Welsh rugby, Jones transferred to what was then the Neath-Swansea Ospreys.

Jones played in the 2004 Autumn Internationals but a dislocated thumb, sustained during a Heineken Cup match between the Ospreys and Munster in January 2005,[3] meant that he was unavailable for the 2005 Six Nations Championship, in which Wales achieved the Grand Slam.

In 2005–06, Jones started in all but one of Wales's Autumn Internationals (he missed the game against Fiji) and in all their 2006 Six Nations Championship matches, following which he was chosen by new coach Gareth Jenkins to captain the side during a mid-year two-Test tour of Argentina.

He subsequently featured as a substitute in a one-off Test against new World Champions, South Africa, in November 2007 and started in Wales's first two games in the 2008 Six Nations Championship, against England and Scotland.

Although "not the biggest guy" for a prop,[6] Jones makes up for his perceived lack of size with speed, mobility and ball-handling skills that would not disgrace a back.