Rising star Huw has high aims for club and country
THE AMBITION in Scotland’s newest star Huw Jones has been evident in the clinical threat he has brought to Scotland’s attack, but it was as clear last week when the youngster spoke for the first time about why he decided to join Glasgow Warriors.
The 23-year-old explained that it was a mix of loyalty and ambition that made him resist SRU attempts to persuade him to join Edinburgh and turn down a more lucrative offer from French Top-14 side Montpellier and stick with Vern Cotter.
Jones (right and below) also helped persuade Stormers prop Oliver Kebble, who signed last week, to form a Cape Town trio in Glasgow, with young Scottishqualified stand-off Brandon Thomson also at Scotstoun, for the short-term at least.
‘We came as a package!’ he laughed. ‘I think we’ll enjoy it here. I’ve been in contact with Glasgow for a number of years — they got in touch with me while I was playing university rugby — so I felt, maybe not really loyalty, but I knew some of their coaches and there is the fact that Glasgow have been successful. I was keen to join a successful club. ‘Playing with guys I’ve got to
know with Scotland was also a big factor. I’ve been playing with the majority of the Glasgow backline, so it was easy to make this choice when weighing up the options about who I wanted to play with. This is pretty much the Scotland backline.
‘But I’m looking forward to the new challenge. I’ll definitely miss Cape Town. It’s a wonderful city, and the weather! But I don’t think I’ll miss the amount of travel. That takes its toll. And it will be nice to play different teams.’
The international lure was great, Jones’ main point of contact in Scotland being the backs coach Jason O’Halloran, who is moving to Glasgow at the end of this season along with Jonathan Humphreys to join incoming Warriors coach Dave Rennie.
‘It was the national team interest as well,’ he admitted. ‘When I was looking at coming up to Scotland, I was only on three caps. I’d rather play in Scotland, be in and around the camp all the time. That helps.’
Jones, tied to Western Province until the end of the Currie Cup season in October (unless coaches allow early release) has been a major find. If Scotland can return to winning ways in the Six Nations and continue to score tries, he will be in the frame to emulate Sean Maitland, from 2013, and earn a British and Irish Lions call-up after only a handful of internationals.
Jones was born in Scotland on account of his parents meeting at Edinburgh University and staying here to start their teaching careers, his father William counting Scott Hastings among his pupils at George Watson’s College. His mother Hillary’s father was also Scottish and so, though the family headed south when he was just two, Jones retained a Scottish affinity and was briefly in the exiles system, taking part in an Under-20s session in Leeds when just 16.
He had grown up in England, attending Junior King’s School in Canterbury, and then the famous Millfield School in Somerset, whose alumni reads like a Who’s Who of sporting greats, from Sir Gareth Edwards and JPR Williams to current England stars Chris Robshaw and Jonathan Joseph.
Being passed over by England teams, he chose to take a year out ‘because I didn’t fancy university’, and went to Cape Town, where his rugby career took off.
It was Glasgow’s lead performance analyst Gavin Vaughan who spotted that the new centre stepping into the Western Province ranks had been born in Edinburgh and tipped off Gregor Townsend.
With two tries and several assists in four Tests this season, after a fleeting debut off the bench in Japan, his pace and skills have added a new dimension to Scotland’s attacking play. He is among the fastest players in the squad and his defensive skills are sharp and physical, well honed in South Africa. He is a confident lad and when asked for his thoughts on Scotland’s performances so far, Jones ignored the positives and pointed to areas that need improving, insisting that the team was capable of better. ‘We have a lot to improve on,’ he said. ‘The result against Ireland was amazing but I don’t think we played to our full potential. We defended for most of the game, struggled to keep hold of the ball and gave away quite a few penalties. The story was the same against France and we ended up on the losing side. ‘Against France especially, our decision-making in attack wasn’t great. That falls upon all of us. We’re still giving away a few penalties and not really playing in the right parts of the field. ‘We have done some things really well (our conversion rate of chances has been good) but there’s a lot to work on.’ One can see, with that attitude, why Jones has been welcomed as warmly by Cotter and the players as he has by the Scotland supporters.