How a stroke of luck uncovered Murrayfield’s man of the moment
Scotland hero Huw Jones has come a long way since being spotted in a varsity cup match in South Africa
Back in 2015 when Gavin Vaughan, Glasgow Warriors’ video analyst and self-confessed rugby geek, suffered a bout of insomnia, Scotland got an uncommon piece of good luck. Sitting up in the early hours in search of some live rugby, he came across an obscure South African cable channel showing a varsity cup game featuring the University of Cape Town’s Ikey Tigers.
As the teams lined up, a graphic appeared. On it was the name Huw Jones and next to that name was a Saltire. What followed was a revelation. Here was a player no one at Murrayfield had ever heard of, yet he played like such a superstar that he had already been drafted by Western Province and, months later, would play Super Rugby for the Stormers.
Vaughan soon found out that Jones had been schooled in England at Millfield but born in Edinburgh when his father taught at Loretto and the Hastings’ brothers’ old alma mater Watsons College. He had gone to South Africa for sun and study rather than rugby. But once he blipped on to Scotland’s radar, his fate was sealed.
Fast-forward to 2016 and Jones’s first Test start. The opponents were Australia and within seven minutes he was on the scoreboard when he latched on to Finn Russell’s through kick. Another followed after half an hour courtesy of his dancing footwork and tasty change of pace. Over the next 11 games he scored another six tries, all of them against the best sides – one in each of the Autumn Tests against Samoa, New Zealand and Australia, another in their recent win over France, and a brace at Twickenham last year that was eclipsed by Scotland’s wretched showing. Yesterday, he gave a remarkable reprise of that double against Eddie Jones’s men, only this time everyone was watching. The last Scot to score against England at Murrayfield was Simon Danielli in 2004, yet yesterday the kid who Scotland found by mistake scored two more, made Scotland’s third and looked a constant threat.
The first was part good fortune and owed much to his partnership with Russell, whose speculative grubber into the England 22 should have been claimed by Anthony Watson or Mike Brown.
The second try, made by a looping pass from Russell that momentarily looked like it would be intercepted, also had a touch of good fortune about it. But once Jones claimed the ball, he put his head down and hared down the right touchline. He was hauled down in the 22 by Watson, but moments later Sean Maitland was diving into the far corner for Scotland’s second try.
What turned out to be Scotland’s killer blow was landed moments before half-time and this time there was nothing lucky about Jones’s try. Jones picked off George Ford’s flat pass, pinned back his ears and ran between Brown and Watson, his strength just enough to hold both tacklers off and crash the ball down.
By half-time, Scotland were 22-6 up, with Jones having scored two and made one. It turned out to be a matchwinning contribution. Not bad for a boy who never thought he would stand a chance of making it as a professional rugby player.