Guinness Premiership opposition is again on the agenda when Harlequins arrive at the Liberty Stadium for a Pool C opener.

And the Ospreys, whose line-up is spearheaded by Wales Grand Slam stars Jones, Shane Williams, Gavin Henson and Lee Byrne, do not intend relinquishing their Anglo-Welsh crown.

Jones said: “At the start of any competition, the target has to be to win it, particularly when you are defending your title.

“We have no intention of just handing over the EDF Energy Cup to another team.

“We’ve enjoyed a great run in this tournament, losing just once in our last 11 fixtures, and of course, we’ve contested two Twickenham finals.

“It is important we hit the ground running. In this competition, if you lose your first game then it can be very difficult to progress, so we realise that we have to get off to a flying start.

“Harlequins have a strong squad with plenty of experience and familiar names, and they’ve started the season well, but we don’t intend giving up our unbeaten home record.

“We’ve talked about making the Liberty Stadium a fortress.

“We want teams to fear coming to the Liberty to play us, and if we are going to manage that then we need to be beating teams like Harlequins.”