FOUR and a half weeks ago, Alun Wyn Jones was disconsolate as he contemplated what had been taken away from him, yet here he is in Cape Town about to lead the Lions in what will be his 10th successive Test for rugby’s most storied team.

The Wales legend left the field in Murrayfield with a dislocated shoulder and it appeared his chances of making it to South Africa were doomed.

Certainly, Warren Gatland thought so as he replaced him with Adam Beard and named Conor Murray as stand-in tour captain. He did mention the possibility of Jones making a miracle return, but it all seemed a bit of a stretch.

Two days later, the dial began to move. Jones got an upbeat assessment for the medics. Told he had a chance, he made it his mission to get back.

Now, he’s the heroic leader of the Lions as they enter the arena against the world champions.

“I can’t swear on here so I won’t go into too much detail,” he says of the emotions of that period after he suffered his injury.

“The first few days after that and getting home I was almost on the sofa before the guys had even got to the airport on the Sunday.

“That was a tough one. Fast forward to the Tuesday when I was told there was a chance – it was bordering on the surreal.

“To be here now and taking the knocks and bumps (in training) and being in amongst it with the group – it means more, I am not going to lie.

“I had spent two weeks with the guys getting to know people, we were bedding in with the rugby, I had the seven minutes and for those two days that was my tour done.

“I had the decent news on the Tuesday and sometimes all you need is a chance and I was willing to work hard, and make it difficult for the guy sitting next to me, to make myself available for selection.”

For Gatland, the decision to start Jones came down to a couple of factors – most notably the fact that Murray was no longer the starting No 9.

“First of all in terms of him making a brilliant recovery to make himself available again,” he said.

“He had a run out the other day and had some decent time on the pitch. So that was fantastic.

“With regards to selection, there was a lot of discussions and we did discuss whether we started him on the bench again and brought him off but when the decision was made that we were going to go with Ali Price at No 9 we felt we really needed his leadership and experience in terms of starting in the second row.

“That’s pretty important for us. It is a great boost to the squad.”

For Jones, the joy at making it back will quickly give way to the mission at hand.

“We have come to win a Test series. I think we have a squad here capable of starting that ball rolling,” he said.

“It has been pretty whistle stop for me since I spoke to Gats and some of the management about being involved on Saturday literally off the plane.

“I was fortunate enough to get some game time on Saturday (against the Stormers) and put myself in contention.

“To be sitting here now and to be involved in the Test team is everything I have ever worked for really over the last, I would be lying if I said it was two years, it is probably four years.

“Obviously, when you finish a series or a tour you don’t know whether you are going to tour next and a lot of games go under the bridge. To be sitting here now is a very, very special thing but it is only a very short step to what is going to be hopefully a very enjoyable week.

“I have done enough Six Nations launches and that word comes out and everybody’s used it, is ‘momentum’. It is exactly the same in this series. You want to get out of the blocks as much as the opposition and it is our opportunity to do that at the weekend.”

Jones has led Wales enough to know how the rest of the week looks and he says he will keep his message to the players simple.

“It’s very basic. When you get to this level, and with the calibre of player we have, it doesn’t have to be over-complicated,” he said.

“You’ve seen the rugby we’ve been able to produce across the games this week. A big one is going to be composure, we’re going to be in arm wrestle.

“Gats has said there will be a territory battle.

“The basic messages are along those lines. It’s doesn’t have to be over complicated. There will be a lot of emotion involved anyway. The calibre of player and simplistic nature of that approach is what I’ve used in previous teams and with Wales in the past. I’ll continue in a similar vein.”