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Wales hosted the Springboks in Cardiff, instead of the game being played in South Africa which was in World Cup mode for the football event.

The 39-Test cap veteran felt having had that game at home had been a factor in Wales doing so well during the first half of the first Test in Dunedin last weekend.

The tour had been a useful preamble to next year's Rugby World Cup but there was a full domestic season to go back in Wales before he could think about it.

"But it has given us a good taste and hopefully the weather will be better next year," he said.

Last year's Lions' tour had been useful in his development and he took a lot away from the experience although it had contributed to a long season in a red shirt. The main lesson had been not to take the knockbacks so hard, as happened after he started the first Test but then was on the bench for the next two as Simon Shaw came back into consideration.

Jones said playing with several New Zealanders in the Ospreys side, they had said that Wales was very similar to New Zealand, and that had been what he had found on the tour.

Jones wasn't daunted by the task ahead of the side. Yes, it had been a long season, but the players were professionals. They had been beaten last week in the first Test but they now had to make the best of the second opportunity.

"It is still a carrot on the end of a long stick, but there is still a belief that we can do something," he said, adding that while the side had worked well for the first 40 minutes it Dunedin, by changing a few things he was sure the side could be there for the full 80 minutes.

Training had featured a little more attention to detail, and the side had been a little smarter and had done a lot of work on the kick-chase, especially after the way New Zealand got away in the last 30 minutes of the game.

"We've focused on accuracy and detail and some of the things we can bring to the last stages of this game," he said.

The fact that Tom Donnelly was back in the side was reflective of the depth in locking in New Zealand with Anthony Boric, Sam Whitelock and Isaac Ross all battling for positions and so the game was a chance for Donnelly to stake his claim.