Alun Wyn Jones making ‘very positive’ progress in injury recovery

Ospreys head coach Toby Booth says Alun Wyn Jones has “ticked off a lot of boxes” in his recovery from a shoulder injury.

Jones is continuing his rehabilitation in the Wales camp this week. He has not played for four months.

He was hurt while captaining Wales in their Autumn Nations Series opener against New Zealand, and subsequently underwent two operations.

Wales conclude their Guinness Six Nations campaign with home games against title favourites France on Friday week, followed by Italy eight days later.

Lock Jones has not been added to the Wales squad, and no comeback appearance has yet been confirmed, but Booth reported that the 36-year-old continues making encouraging progress.

“He has ticked off a lot of boxes,” Booth said. “His scan results were very positive.

“He needs to do different aspects of training, and not necessarily team preparation.

“They (Wales) are in a fallow week and we are preparing a team (for a United Rugby Championship game on Sunday), so it makes sense in terms of being able to pull him in and out of parts of sessions, instead of just exposing him.

“We are in constant dialogue with their medical and strength and conditioning teams. We need a joined-up approach on a lot of what we do, and this is a good example of that.

“He is there for this week, and we will see how he presents at the end of the week and where that takes us after that.

“He is not available for us, he’s not quite ready, but we are all contributing a part to getting him back on the pitch.”

It's what is right for the player, and whether it fits- Ospreys head coach Toby Booth

Asked if he expected Jones’ first game back to be for the Ospreys or Wales, Booth added: “It’s what is right for the player, and whether it fits.

“If he