Jones exit can free up space for McDowell
SPECULATION may be mounting regarding Huw Jones’ future, but should the Scotland centre join the exodus of high-profile players from Glasgow, his departure may help solve rather than create a problem.
In more than a year since he arrived at Scotstoun, Jones – who has been linked with a move to Leicester – has made just 11 starts along with two appearances off the bench and, for all that injury has contributed to those statistics so, too, has head coach Dave Rennie’s readiness to select on the basis of what he has seen.
With Scotland midfielders Alex Dunbar, Pete Horne and Nick Grigg in the mix, as well as the recently qualified Sam Johnson, who would have been involved this autumn barring injury, Rennie already boasted an embarrassment of riches and that was before Stafford McDowell seized the opportunity when brought on early as a replacement in Munster sufficiently to earn a start against the Ospreys.
Since last summer’s Scotland under-20 captain was then outstanding in the course of what was an impressive win in Swansea, the need to provide him with further opportunities is obvious and while, with Stuart Hogg’s departure at the end of the season already confirmed, he can also play in the back three, his promise as a midfielder is obvious.
So much so that, as reluctant as coaches tend to be about placing too much pressure on emerging talent, Rennie has recognised that there is little point in doing other than recognise McDowell’s potential.
“I try to squash all the talk about good young kids coming through, so people don’t get too carried away, [but] he’s been in outstanding form in club footy,” said Rennie.
“He’s a year-and-a-half into training with us fulltime. I thought he had a really strong performance against Munster where he played about 65 minutes and then again against Ospreys.
“He’s got a really good skill set. He’s a very good distributor, got a good left foot . He’s a smart footy player, very, very fit, and his work rate is outstanding. He’s slotted in seamlessly and we’re very, very happy with him.
“There’s a lot of good midfielders in there and we’ve got a number of midfielders ahead of him technically here, but as you’ve seen with us, we’ll pick on form, so he’s certainly made a statement over the last couple of weeks and he probably deserves opportunity.”
For his own part, McDowell says he has drawn both help and inspiration from his clubmates who are already in the international set-up and is not getting ahead of himself, in spite of things having gone as well as they have since that unexpected opportunity arose.
“It was a shock playing against Munster because I another was 24th man [but] it’s a lot easier because I enjoy playing with Nick Grigg, he’s a really good player to be inside of. He chats to you a lot and having guys like that around you makes it a lot easier to fit in to the system,” he said.
“It’s very inspiring to see how seamlessly Adam and George have managed to fit in to the international set-up, but I just want to take it one step at a time.”