Huw Jones has just spent the last two months re-establishing himself as a key man in Scotland’s midfield and now, after a week off to recover and refresh, he has set his sights on achieving a similar goal at club level with Glasgow Warriors.
The outside-centre’s first spell at Scotstoun between 2017 and 2021 never really got going, and he ended up spending last season playing in the English Premiership with Harlequins – which proved to be the change of scene required to reinvigorate a professional career which started with a bang but had badly lost its way.
Jones (inset) moved back north last summer, keen to push his case for club and country, but a back injury meant he missed the first four months of this season, and it was not until the start of December that he finally made his second debut for Warriors.
Jones hit the ground running when he did finally get back on to the pitch, scoring tries against Bath and Perpignan in the Challenge Cup, and against Stormers in the URC, in his first three games, which was enough to earn a call-up to Scotland’s Six Nations squad at the end of January.
However, with Chris Harris firmly established during the last three years as a defensive bulwark in the dark blue No.13 jersey, it seemed unlikely that Jones would see much game-time during the Championship.
“I wasn’t sure if I was going to be in the squad at first, then once I was in, I obviously hoped I was going to play, but I wasn’t holding my breath,” he acknowledges. “I was being realistic about it, thinking I’ll have to train really well and hopefully get a chance at some point.”
So, when Gregor Townsend named him in the starting XV for the Championship opener against England it raised a few eyebrows, but Jones repaid the faith the Scotland head coach had shown in him with a polished all-round performance which featured a well-taken try which got the ball rolling for a famous win at Twickenham.
Jones ended up starting all five matches and crossed the whitewash four times over the course of the campaign, forming a formidable 12-13 partnership with his Warriors team-mate Sione Tuipulotu.
“Looking back, I’ve only played nine games so this season so it’s not a lot of rugby,” he said. “I missed the first couple of months, managed to get in and play four games for Glasgow, then I was away with Scotland, so I’m really grateful to have played all five games in the Six Nations because I wasn’t expecting it.
“That obviously went quite well but now I’m back here with Glasgow and have to focus on that. I’m just looking forward to getting stuck into training and hopefully getting a few more games under my belt.”
While Jones and Tuipulotu – a partnership which has been nicknamed “Huwipulotu” – have been away on international duty, Sam Johnson and stand-in captain Stafford McDowall have hit a rich vein of form in the middle of the park for Warriors, so it is not going to be a case of the Scotland pair waltzing straight back into the starting XV.
“The team has been going really well and the centres especially are in good form, so it’s a tough team to get into at the moment,” agreed Jones. “It maybe doesn’t come off the tongue in the same way, but Sam and Stafford are playing really well together as well – they just don’t have a cool nickname!
“But [coach] Franco [Smith] has been really good this season rotating the team – he wants everyone to be fresh but also ready to play with match fitness behind them – so there is going to be opportunities for people to play all season.
“Obviously, when you get to the back end of the campaign you don’t change the 23 as much, so it will get a bit more competitive.
“But we’re all good mates so we know how it is and whoever is playing we all get behind that guy, and you hope to get your shot next week.”
Warriors host a struggling Dragons outfit in the round of 16 of the Challenge Cup on Saturday evening, and a win in that match would set up a home quarter-final against either the Lions or Finn Russell’s Racing 92 the following weekend.
