Jones eyes silverware with Glasgow after sealing his future
Scotland centre tempted by move to France but settled on these shores
HUW JONES is targeting winning silverware with Glasgow Warriors after the Scotland centre committed his future to the club last week. Jones was linked with a move to France, with Top 14 side Montpellier reportedly interested in signing the 30-year-old.
But he agreed a new deal that will keep him at Scotstoun for another two years.
Jones said: “It’s nice to be staying put. We’ve got a baby on the way in the next couple of weeks, we’re pretty settled in Glasgow, we’ve got loads of friends around, and my family lives just outside of Edinburgh.
“From a rugby perspective, I feel like we’ve got a great thing growing at Glasgow and at Scotland as well. Glasgow – we’re a top team right now, we can win something this season, but if not I’ve got two more years to win.
“It’s an exciting time for the club and I’m happy to be staying around.”
Jones said staying with the Warriors, where he is now in his second spell after a season at Harlequins in 2021/22, was a “rugby decision”.
His link to Montpellier continues a long-standing admiration from across the Channel. Jones had committed to joining Bayonne in 2021, but the club was relegated and the deal cancelled.
He added: “I’ve said in the past that I’d be open to a move to France. It was certainly tempting. But I think, like you do with all big decisions, you’ve got to weigh up the pros and cons.
“I thought it would be a shame to pass up what’s happening at Glasgow at the moment. I think since Franco [Smith, Glasgow head coach] came in and since I came back to the club, I’ve seen a real growth in the squad. We’re getting better and better.
“I think we’ve got a real momentum, and I want to stay part of that.”
While he is keen to stay at Scotstoun this time around, Jones believes he is a better player for the experience of moving to Quins.
Jones praised the Scotland coaches, particularly Steve Tandy, for the improvements in his defensive game, long seen as an area of weakness.
“When I went down to Quins I grew a lot as a player there, and since coming back I think I’ve still got better,” he said.
“I really rate the coaches at Glasgow. We train very hard, but it’s good and it’s translating on to the field.
“The coaching is great with Scotland as well. I think I’ve grown massively with my defence, and Steve Tandy has been huge for that. We have a similar defensive system and coaching with Pete Murchie at Glasgow, so I think to be staying in that system is good for me.”
Looking ahead to the weekend’s trip to Rome, Jones will line up with a new midfield partner with his Glasgow team-mate Sione Tuipulotu out for the remainder of the championship. But he is confident there is strength in depth among the possible replacements.
“All the guys have been training well,” Jones added. “They’ve all played well this season and I think we’re kind of blessed in that position right now.
“Staff’s [Stafford McDowall] been going really well at Glasgow over the last couple of weeks, and the other
two are obviously going well for their clubs.
“Losing Sione isn’t great but with the guys who are able to step up, we can have confidence in them.
“We should make it so it’s not too much of a difference. The way we train should hopefully translate on to the field.”
Jones continued to sing the praises of Glasgow midfield colleague McDowall, who was close to walking away from the sport two years ago but is now part of the national team squad.
He won man of the match as he captained Glasgow to victory over Benetton on Saturday, and Jones says the Dumfries man has made big improvements in the past couple of years.
“He’s taken real strides in his game,” Jones said. “He’s been huge for Glasgow the last couple of seasons, and especially the last couple of weeks.”
Meanwhile, assistant coach Pete Horne was full of praise for Jones for his work ethic.
Horne, who played alongside Jones for Scotland, said the centre has become a more rounded player than the one who burst on to the Test scene with two tries on his first start at Murrayfield against Australia in 2016.
Horne said: “Last season was the first time I’d worked with him in the couple of years since I’d finished playing.
“I feel like his attention to detail in the unflashy things has just gone way up from when he was younger.
“You take that stuff for granted because of his X factor but the pride he now takes in that stuff has elevated him.
“Now he’s so consistently good that his X-factor stuff is just a little bonus when he does give you one of those big line breaks every game.”
Jones has been in outstanding form, and Horne believes much of the centre’s good work goes unnoticed by most spectators.
He added: “He gets a rep for being that flashy player but he does so much of the stuff that goes amiss – like outworking the opposition defence to make another pair of hands or to run a dummy line, his running lines are the best in the world.
“He’s flying just now and long may that continue.”