RECORD BUSTERS
Huw: We can wreck England hopes of a new world best
HUW JONES insists Scotland are excited rather than daunted by the prospect of taking on an England side looking to go down in history. The Scotland centre realises this Calcutta Cup clash at Twickenham has taken on an extra significance as the home side attempt to equal New Zealand’s world record of 18 victories in a row. South African-based Jones says the chance to go down in Scottish rugby folklore as the team that stopped England’s run has fired up the Scots on top of the chance to win the Triple Crown. He said: “It’s not so much daunting, it’s quite exciting. It’s a massive opportunity. That’s one of the big incentives to stop their run. “That is the end goal, we want to win the game and winning the game will end their run. “We will be thinking about that. Obviously it won’t be our sole focus, we will be looking at the tactical side of it and what we can do. It’s not just going to be motivational and emotional. But that is what we want to do.” Scotland have their sights set on their own massive achievement having turned around their Six Nations fortunes. Vern Cotter’s side have beaten both Ireland and Wales for the first time since their 1999 title win in the last Five Nations and have the chance to claim their first Triple Crown for 27 years. Jones only joined the Scotland set-up on last year’s summer tour of Japan and the Stormers player has already noticed a difference in the mindset. He said: “There’s just an extra bit of positivity. We’ve still got the same hunger we had at the beginning of the tournament. We set our goals, we didn’t shout about it, but we knew what we wanted to do.
“We’ve had two good wins but we’re looking to kick on now. There’s a lot of enthusiasm and the hunger is still there. The camp is more positive.”
Scotland’s confidence was boosted further when their victory over Wales pushed them up to an all-time high of fifth in the world rankings.
Jones added: “As a group, and personally as well, it makes us enormously proud we’ve achieved something that hasn’t been done before. It’s a big honour and it just shows there are exciting times coming from this squad.”
The Leith-born back is sure England will take notice of their improving status. Jones, who moves to Glasgow in the summer, said: “Traditionally, not just England, but maybe other teams have gone into the Six Nations thinking Scotland might be an easy game. Especially this season, we’ve managed to change that mindset.
“They won’t be thinking it’s going to be an easy game this time.”