Kear confirms Wales will play Keighley

Wales national coach John Kear has confirmed that his side will play the Keighley Cougars in a friendly, to commemorate former Welsh international Danny Jones.

The match will take place at Cougar Park on Sunday October 25, with the money raised being donated to the fund set up to support the family of Jones.

The Welsh players have volunteered to play without pay, as they look to add to the more than £125,000 already raised for the fund, which will be used to support Jones’s wife Liz, and five-month-old twins Bobby and Phoebe.

Keighley will also be paying the remainder of Jones’s contract into the fund.

“There’s been a tremendous response,” Kear told Press Association Sport.

“The players have all put their hands up and agreed to play for nothing.

“Danny was very popular in the Welsh camp.

“I tried to get him to play in last year’s European Championship but he turned it down because his wife Liz was heavily pregnant and I think that demonstrates what a family man he was.

“Both Keighley and Wales have agreed a date and a venue and now it’s subject to approval from the RFL.

“The match fits in with our schedule but, regardless of that, we would have wanted to play it because we just want to do the best we can for his family.”

Wales will play Ireland, France and Scotland in the European Championship in the autumn of this year.