Adam Jones (centre) will miss the Six Nations Tournament

The Ospreys medical team have received confirmation of the extent of lay-off facing Adam Jones after he suffered an elbow injury during Sunday’s Heineken Cup game against London Irish. Having received the medical reports following the player undergoing a scan earlier this week, Ospreys Head Physio, Chris Towers, has confirmed that Jones could be out for up to eight weeks, meaning he won’t be back for the final match of the Championship, against France on 19 March.

Towers said: “The scans have confirmed our suspicion of significant ligament damage and soft tissue trauma to the left elbow. We’ve discussed the case at length, both with orthopaedic specialists and the WRU medical team, and expect that Adam is likely to be out for around eight weeks.”

Jones joins 70-times capped Tom Shanklin, Gethin Jenkins and banned scrum-half Richie Rees on the sidelines for the tournament.

“If we lose Adam Jones we lose our cornerstone,” said legendary Wales prop Graham Price to the BBC

“And we haven’t got anybody to replace him. There is nobody waiting in the wings for an opportunity to do a job, certainly nobody who puts their hand up. He’s certainly crucial to our forward effort, and looking forward to the Six Nations, if Adam is not fit that is one area we are going to struggle. An area [the scrum] where we thought we were going to do ok, and we could build our game on, all of a sudden it’s starting to fall apart.”