Jones must now decide if he wants centre stage for club and country

HAVING just turned 27 last month, Huw Jones is now entering the prime of his career. The next four or five years should represent his peak as a professional rugby player.

Yet, he seems to be caught in a state of flux. With both Scotland and also at club level with Glasgow Warriors, he’s been in and out of the team so much over the past 18 months or so.

He went from being arguably Scotland’s most dangerous player at one point, to then missing out entirely on the World Cup squad in the blink of an eye in 2019.

After being moved from the centre to deputise at full-back post-lockdown in August, Jones deserves a lot of credit because he’s been one of Glasgow’s best players this season.

He’s made a very decent fist of it — and he was excellent again yesterday against Edinburgh. He looked somewhere close to his very best.

His scything run through the home defence in the first half was a joy to watch. It was one of the few moments of genuine attacking quality in a dull match.

Jones is such an electric runner when he gets ball in hand. Seeing him jink through gaps and leaving defenders for dust, it was reminiscent of his match-winning Calcutta Cup heroics in 2018.

But he’s now at a major crossroads in his career. With his Glasgow contract set to expire at the end of the season, Jones has a huge few months ahead of him.

He will undoubtedly have aspirations of forcing his way back into the Scotland side and earning a more regular starting slot under Gregor Townsend.

I understand Townsend will see Jones’ versatility as a huge bonus and will perhaps see him as more of a bench player due to him being able to cover several positions.

But, for me, he’s too good a player to sit on the bench. He’s too good to be a utility man. When he’s on this sort of form, Jones simply has to play for Scotland.

The key issue in all of this is playing him in his natural position of outside-centre. If he is going to extend his contract with Glasgow, that will no doubt form a key part of his conversations with Danny Wilson.

He needs to return to the centre long term if he’s to force his way back into the reckoning with Scotland and nail down a regular starting spot under Townsend.

There are reports that London Irish are keen to take Jones down south to the Premiership, which would be another hammer blow to Glasgow if they lost another star player.

There will be financial implications involved in any negotiations. More specifically, can Glasgow afford to pay Jones as much as what might be on offer in the Premiership?

It’s a huge decision. If Jones does leave Scotstoun and it doesn’t work out, then a lack of game time could see him totally fall off the radar with Scotland.

He’s a bit of an enigma. But if he moves on and ends up sitting on the bench for a Premiership club, he’ll soon become the forgotten man. It’s a risk only he will know if he wants to take.

He has to weigh up his international aspirations, playing regular rugby in his favoured position, and also his right as a player to earn a living. After all, it’s a short career.

Jones was excellent yesterday — and the same applies to Richie Gray. The two of them didn’t deserve to be on the losing side.

Gray was magnificent in the line-out. He was rock solid and disrupted Edinburgh’s ball time and time again.

Given the chaos they had to deal with around Covid heading into the match, Glasgow gave a decent account of themselves and didn’t play badly by any means.

But I do feel like they are missing a spark in attack. Jones did his best to get them going, but it’s tough to rely on one player to make the magic happen.

They miss Adam Hastings quite badly. Brandon Thomson had another tough afternoon, both in terms of trying to control the game and also kicking at goal.

He missed another absolute sitter in front of the posts and, for a guy who is normally renowned as a very reliable kicker, it is now a mental problem as much as anything else.

It was a tough watch between two teams low on confidence right now. But Edinburgh found a way of grinding it out and, in the end, they just about deserved their victory.

He looked close to his best and has reached a crossroads in his career