Scots need more of the same against Oz – Jones

HUW Jones says it was no surprise Scotland put on a show against New Zealand – but admits the challenge now is to repeat their All Blacks display against lesser opponents.

The Scots pushed Steve Hanson’s men desperately close on Saturday as they once again failed to record their first ever win over the world champions.

Yet the stirring nature of their display in the 22-17 Murrayfield loss has raised hopes that Gregor Townsend’s men now stand on the cusp of being genuine toplevel contenders.

But Glasgow centre Jones has preached caution after admitting it is easy to raise your game when squaring up to the best team on the planet.

The hard part, according to the 23-year-old, is reaching those heights when the other side is not quite so stellar.

“That’s a mindset thing,” said the former Stomers midfielder ahead of Saturday’s clash with Australia.

“Pretty much every team will have their best game against the All Blacks because they’re number one in the world.

“It’s easy to raise your game against them.

“Now it’s about getting into that mindset of wanting to play at that intensity, no matter who the opponent is.

“If you look at our first game against Samoa we didn’t have our best game.

“I don’t think we under-estimated them but perhaps we weren’t in the best mental shape.

“But for most of us, the All Blacks game would have been the biggest of our careers so far and if you’re not in the best head space for that there’s something wrong with you.

“So it’s about replicating that frame of mind for every game.

“But I think we’re getting to that. It’s more about focusing on ourselves more than the opposition.

“Obviously you have to prepare for the opposition but if we can get ourselves to the level we did on Saturday in every game then we should get some really good results.

“It’s given us massive belief,” said Jones, who scored twice on his debut against the Aussies in Edinburgh 12 months ago.

“We came really close against them this time last year so to finally beat them in Australia was no easy feat.”