Alun Wyn Jones

“If we have given everything we can, you are not settling for mediocrity because the better team won. Sometimes you have to have that mindset to be able to improve rather than keep telling yourself you should have won.”

“I got to a stage in my mid-20s where I was focusing on 'what's next, what's next,' and sometimes you don't enjoy what you should.”

“I've no regrets. I don't think you can afford to.”

“There's always a team behind the team. We've got our off-field guys looking after us.”

“I'll look at stats after a game to see the work I've done in different areas.”

“I would like to think I am well aware of what the Lions are about and what they represent, but out of respect for your body and the players who are putting up their hands to be selected, you keep it at arm's length.”

“For me, representing Wales really was a dream.”

“It's great having a good academy, but if you can't pay the players you're producing, what's the point of it?”

“I am probably a bit numb upstairs, which is sometimes a good thing.”

“Happiness is dangerous. If you're happy, you're content, and if you're content, you can become complacent.”

“I am always optimistic.”

“Ultimately I'm the captain, but if someone can't get themselves in the right state to play, it's not my job. If they don't want to come into work determined to be the best they can be, they're in the wrong job.”

“I am a big believer that change is good.”

“A draw is the lesser of two evils. A loss or a draw, then obviously we are going to take the draw.”

“The higher up the rugby ladder you go, the differences between winning and losing games get smaller and smaller.”

“My wife says to me, 'You have achieved a lot'... yeah, I do know. But... there are a couple of things I haven't.”

“It is easy to overthink things, and I am good at that.”

“When I retire, my CV might have a few holes, things I haven't achieved that I would have felt I needed to do, but I won't know if I did need to do them until I retire.”

“I don't think you need to go global rugby to save the Lions, but I think you need to go global rugby to save rugby and not lose things like the Lions.”

“I'd love to feature for the Barbarians. I'd love to win a Champions Cup, and I'd love to get to another World Cup and make a fist of it: get to a World Cup final at least and see what could have been, particularly after 2011 when Wales reached the semi-finals.”