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They are the two Welsh rugby stars who are making waves in the south-west corner of London with Harlequins.

Lions Test prop Adam Jones and Wales centre Jamie Roberts have helped the Quins move into third place in the Aviva Premiership and top of their Challenge Cup pool.

The pair’s old Cardiff Blues region will be the visitors to the Stoop this Sunday as Danny Wilson’s men aim to keep alive their dream in Europe’s second tier tournament.

While Jones will sit out the fixture, Roberts is set for an emotional encounter against his beloved Blues region as he faces them for the first time since leaving in 2013.

Jones has been at the Stoop since last summer while Roberts linked up with the English outfit after the World Cup and a stint with Cambridge University where he played in the Varsity match last month

Gareth Griffiths travelled to the impressive training base at Harlequins to meet up with two of Wales’ favourite sons in their new surroundings.

Watch: How well do Jamie and Adam know each other?

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WalesOnline: What will it mean to face your former side this weekend?

Jamie Roberts: It’s a special fixture for me.

I have never had the chance to play against my old club before in my professional career.

I played against Harlequins for Cardiff Blues and Racing before I moved to this club.

So it will be quite an alien experience. It will just be a great opportunity to play against some lads I am more used to playing with.

Adam Jones: I am not playing this weekend personally but it promises to be a great game. When you have the Wales and England confrontations they are always very feisty.

We are a good team who are in good form and are top of the Challenge Cup group for a reason. We are confident of the win but the Blues have been good recently and they will come down here with their tails up.

(Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency)

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WO: What are your memories of your time with the Cardiff Blues?

JR: Very fond. The coaches at the Blues gave me my first chance in professional rugby and I’m eternally grateful for that.

Justin Burnell was the academy manager when I was there and Dai Young was the head coach when I was coming through the ranks.

I have huge respect for the set-up and what the region stands for. My dream started there and I had some wonderful years in Cardiff until I left to join Racing Metro.

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Looking forward, Danny Wilson (current Blues head coach) was my first coach at Rumney RFC. There is a fact of the day for you! He was the coach there with Gafyn Cooper who is now the Blues team manager.

He is a good bloke and I have a lot of respect for him and what he is trying to achieve. He’s a good coach and having spoken to a lot of the boys there, they are buying into what Danny is about and what he is trying to achieve.

AJ: It was a bit different for me because I only spent last season there after joining from the Ospreys.

It was a weird time regarding my international situation and my contract. I was thankful to the likes of Peter Thomas, Richard Holland and Mark Hammett who gave me a chance when I was at a low ebb. So I will always be grateful to the Blues.

More:Cardiff Blues ready to offer Wales wing Alex Cuthbert a new deal

WO: Your Harlequins team-mate Mike Brown is the English player the Welsh fans love to hate. What is he really like?!

AJ: He is a good boy. I know the Welsh might love to hate him but he’s not nearly as bad as he is made out to be. I would have been one of the first guys to think when you played against him that he was a real idiot.

But he is a nice guy and he takes all the banter on the chin. He’s also a very good player. He is one of six Harlequins players who made the England squad so that’s good to see.

JR: He is a top chap. He did THAT interview after the World Cup which was pure ammunition for all Welsh rugby fans! He is an angry man but it’s great to see that passion about what he does!

As a Welshman in London I am trying to act as his liaison officer and peacemaker with the Welsh! It’s funny and a bit of banter and he is loving it. I sent out a tongue in cheek tweet last week along the lines of explaining how he wanted to build bridges with the Welsh. As a result of that he probably took more stick than he has had before. I didn’t see that coming (honestly!).

WO: How would assess your time with Harlequins so far?

JR: I’m really enjoying it. It has gone so quickly and I am just trying to take it all in.

The guys are a great crack and the whole set-up is all very professional for the players and the support staff have been magnificent too.

You would walk into the medical room and there are five or six physios at work while at Racing you would have just two.

(Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency)

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On the field it has gone well and we have won three matches and drawn one so I am still technically unbeaten! I started against Calvisano where I managed to score a try.

Then we played at Twickenham against Gloucester in the big London match in front of 80,000 and that was an amazing experience in a thrilling 39-39 draw.

We were away at Worcester on a boggy pitch but I suppose my real debut at the Stoop was against Saracens last Saturday and it was bouncing.

It was the first time I had played in front of a home capacity crowd. It was an awesome win against the top of the table Saracens side who has previously been unbeaten this season.

That was such a memorable game and one I will remember for a long time. It felt as if I was really part of the club.

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AJ: This is a great club. I initially signed a one-year deal and have signed for an extra year until the summer of 2017.

It was something I was hoping for when I first signed and I am glad to have sorted it out so early. I didn’t want it to be hanging on and have any uncertainty. Conor O’Shea (director of rugby) and John Kingston (head coach) told me they wanted me for another season and it happened.

WO: What is different about Harlequins and playing in the Aviva Premiership?

JR: Every club is different. What I find is that here the days are quite busy and you are always concerned with making meetings and meeting deadlines.

I contrast that to Racing over the last couple of years where there was a big gap between 12 noon and 3pm.

There is a bigger squad here as well to cope with all the games. I can’t say much about the Aviva Premiership standard or style of play just yet because I have only played three games in the competition.

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But I can look at the occasions with the huge Twickenham crowd and the sellout against Saracens and just marvel at the spectacles.

That is one of the appeals to play in front of those crowds and those sort of atmospheres. That’s been great.

AJ: The crowds are massively different and you can just see that by some of the atmospheres we have played in front of recently at Twickenham and the Stoop.

The rugby is perhaps more intense. There are full houses and full-strength teams every week and there is no resting players which perhaps back in Wales sides look at and think they can do sometimes.

When you go to places in the Pro12 like Munster, Ulster and Leinster, it can be savage don’t get me wrong.

(Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency)

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But what you find up here is that it is like that most weeks. The relegation aspect also adds to things and you have sides scrapping for points so every game towards the end of the season will mean something with teams battling for survival, Europe or the play-off places.

We had the big game against Gloucester at Twickenham in front of 80,000 people so they definitely know how to put a show on.

The Saracens game last weekend really took me back a bit about how wonderful the atmosphere was.

I text Alun Wyn Jones after the game and told him I likened it to when the Ospreys played the Scarlets on Boxing Day at Stradey Park with a full house and a hostile atmosphere. It was a real humdinger, a few cheap shots and citings. It was a great game and I loved it. And we won.

(Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency)

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How are you enjoying London life?

JR: It’s great. I have bought a flat with my best mate growing up Rhys who is a now criminal barrister in London. We have been good mates growing up so we know each other well, since we were four. It is in Wandsworth so we are just eight minutes into the heart of the city.

AJ: It’s a lot different to back home but it’s great. For example, after this I am off to watch Phantom of the Opera in the West End. Brilliant!