Alun Wyn Jones: Wales’ legendary leader & player of the 2019 Six Nations

At 6ft 5in and over 18 stone, Jones is a bulwark built for the brutal rigours of Test rugby.

But while those broad shoulders are accustomed to carrying the weighty responsibility of captaining a zealous rugby nation, adulation does not rest so easily.

In an international career spanning 13 years, Jones has won four Six Nations titles – including three Grand Slams – and toured with the British and Irish Lions on three occasions, helping captain them to victory in Australia in 2013 and playing a prominent role in the drawn series in New Zealand four years later.

He has also won league titles and cups with his home region, the Ospreys, and racked up several individual honours along the way.

Jones, however, doesn’t really like to talk about all that.

A reluctant interviewee, he will brush off talk of milestones and historic achievements – seemingly trivial distractions for a man preternaturally driven and focused on the next task.

It is that single-mindedness which underpins his fierce competitive edge on the field, the fuel for a relentless work ethic.

Ask him about previous matches or statistics, he will give you short shrift. Offer praise – from pundits or even his peers – and he will modestly change the subject.

Jones sometimes seems as if he is building a barricade between himself and the media, but he will occasionally drop that granite façade.

One such example provided one of the abiding images of Wales’ latest Grand Slam.

As he stood for the anthems, Jones noticed the mascot, seven-year-old Joey Hobbs, was shivering in the wind and rain, so the captain took off his tracksuit jacket, bent down and wrapped it around the boy’s shoulders.

Afterwards, Jones told Joey he could keep the jacket and his family are now planning to frame it in their house.

It was a simple, but tender act of kindness from a man who was about to engage in 80 minutes of shuddering Test rugby.

It was also another insight into the make-up of the man behind the legend, a formidable athlete and intimidating opponent, but also father of two young girls, a human being.