Latest international rugby star played here as a boy

Ex-city junior is first player to score two tries for Scotland against Australia ‘I’m chuffed but at the end of the day I would have liked to have won as well. I think that we should have won’

Scotland’s newest rugby hero is a former Canterbury schoolboy who played in the city’s junior teams.

Huw Jones, 22, an ex-pupil at the Junior King’s School, was man of the match as he ran in two tries against Australia in his full international debut on Saturday – but was unable to prevent a 23-22 defeat.

His father Bill, a former deputy head at the school in Sturry, was at the game at Murrayfield and went to the players’ post-match dinner.

The 57-year-old, now head at the independent Spring Grove School in Wye, said: “I’m very proud – and even though the result didn’t go the right way, it was a great game, a really fantastic game.

“Huw is really pleased that he was able to make such a statement.”

Saturday was Huw’s first full international having previously come on as a substitute during a tour match against Japan in Tokyo in June.

He scored his first try on eight minutes after piercing the Australian line after a kick over the top and running almost half the length of the pitch to score between the posts. His second came less than 20 minutes later, when he was again able to break through the defence and touch down on the left-hand side.

Despite the result, Huw was named man of the match and is the first player to score two tries in a match for Scotland against Australia.

He said afterwards: “Australia are one of the top teams in world and to have come so close is obviously pleasing, but I think we can look at ourselves and think that we should have won.

“I’m chuffed to have got two tries, but at the end of the day I would like to have won as well.”

Huw’s rugby playing goes back to his early years in Canterbury. Born in Edinburgh in 1993 where his father worked at schools, Huw and his family arrived in Kent in 2001 when Bill started the job at Junior King’s.

Huw started playing for the youth teams at Canterbury Rugby Club.

In 2005, Bill took a team of King’s under-11s on a tour to Scotland. Remarkably, that was the last time Huw had played there until Saturday.

After King’s, Huw went to Millfield School in Somerset and then to work at Diocesan College in the Rondebosch suburb of Cape Town.

He first played for the False Bay club and the University of Cape Town team before joining Western Province, who play in South Africa’s top flight, and for the Stormers in the Super Rugby competition. Bill, who has been head of Spring Grove for nine years, hopes Huw will find time to revisit east Kent.

“It would be good if he could spare a few days to come down,” Bill said. “He’s done a bit of ref- ereeing for me in the past. Huw’s real breakthrough came when he was about 17 or 18.

“He was a late bloomer and this shows that you can really come through at the later stages of development.”

Huw Jones with dad Bill following his two tries for Scotland against Australia and, above, Huw pictured playing as a youngster for Canterbury Rugby Club