Hutchinson is just the ticket to leave Huw in real sweat

IT would have seemed unthinkable even as recently as six months ago, but there is now no guarantee that Huw Jones is going to be in Scotland’s World Cup squad. After Rory Hutchinson’s two tries and all-round display in Georgia last night, he has now booked himself a ticket on the flight to Japan.

There is no way Gregor Townsend can leave him out on the back of that. He simply has to be in the final squad when it’s announced on Tuesday.

Jones, on the other hand, is going to have a couple of sleepless nights before he discovers whether or not he has made the final cut.

His fate is no longer in his own hands. If, as expected, Townsend takes four centres to the World Cup, Jones isn’t at the top of the pecking order in the way that he once was.

Sam Johnson and Duncan Taylor are both shoo-ins, which leaves Jones, Hutchinson, Chris Harris and Peter Horne battling for the other two spots.

If we accept that Hutchinson is also now a certainty, then it’s a case of one other player from the trio of Jones, Harris and Horne.

Horne has been an outstanding servant to Scotland over the years, but I suspect he may just miss out on this occasion.

So it then becomes a straight shoot-out between Jones and Harris for the fourth spot. If the squad is picked purely on form, then there can be only one winner in that contest.

Harris was brilliant against France last weekend. Of Scotland’s two tries, he scored one and played a big part in the creation of the other.

He’s also defensively sound and a really reliable operator. He’s perhaps not the flashiest of players, but he never lets his country down.

As for Jones, there’s no question that he’s an outstanding talent on his day. But he’s far too hot and cold.

We haven’t seen the best of him for a long time. Quite incredibly, it’s now over 18 months since he last scored a try for Scotland.

That was when he put England to the sword so spectacularly at BT Murrayfield with a brace of tries and, at that point, he was the darling of Scottish rugby.

Since then, though, he has struggled with injury and lost his place in the Glasgow Warriors team

last season to the extent he was on the bench for the Pro14 final in May.

When it comes to forcing your way into a World Cup squad, it’s all a matter of timing. In that respect, Hutchinson is a bolter who has timed his run to perfection.

If the final squad was picked a couple of weeks ago, like England’s was, then Hutchinson almost certainly wouldn’t have made it.

Listen, Jones may well still sneak in, but that would be incredibly harsh on Harris after the way he performed against the French.

All in all, we have the best depth I can ever remember at centre when you consider that Matt Scott, Mark Bennett and Alex Dunbar aren’t even part of the equation at the moment.

All of which will provide Townsend with a major headache ahead of Tuesday, but he’ll be buoyed by what he saw in the Georgian capital.

Scotland’s game-management was chalk and cheese from what we’ve seen in some of their recent outings. This was a really composed, intelligent display of rugby.

I played alongside a couple of the Georgian boys at Clermont and I can testify to just how fiercely competitive they are. This was a tough assignment for Scotland.

But they passed it with flying colours and have now injected some real momentum into the camp ahead of flying out to the World Cup.

They began the match so impressively. To be 20-0 up after just 20 minutes is as good a start as you could possibly wish for — especially away from home in a hostile environment.

Finn Russell was magnificent. It’s no coincidence that, when he plays well, Scotland play well as a unit. He is so vitally important to everything we do.

What really shone through last night was also the leaders in our team. To have Stuart McInally, Greig Laidlaw and John Barclay on the pitch at the same time, any of them could feasibly captain the country on any given day.

The balance of the back row also looked good and, in the locks, Ben Toolis redeemed himself from what happened in Nice a couple of weeks ago and I expect he’ll now be on the plane to Japan.

As for who makes the cut in the midfield, though, all bets are now off.