Interview: Lee Jones, Scotland winger

Scotland have now lost five successive Tests and, with a difficult trip to Dublin in the offing, that could easily become six. That hasn’t happened since Matt Williams was in charge of the national team. The Aussie is long gone, hounded out by press and public alike as much for talking complete claptrap as for his less than impressive win/loss ratio.

The current atmosphere surrounding this Scotland squad is very different. The World Cup saw a lot of mistakes, by coaches as well as players, but leaving to one side the debacle that was the recent England match, Andy Robinson’s side have made measurable progress in the current Six Nations largely thanks to the influx of several young players.

Chief among them have been three Borderers who between them grabbed most of the points and plaudits against France. Two of them also made howling defensive errors to continue the long litany of individual mistakes that are hurting Scotland badly.

Selection is never simple and, by drafting in some intelligence (Greig Laidlaw), some pace (Lee Jones) and someone with a bit of both (Stuart Hogg), Robinson has had to compromise elsewhere, notably defence.

Laidlaw has twice been left lying like roadkill in the last two matches, firstly by 6ft 6in Welsh winger Alex Cuthbert in Cardiff and, less forgivably, by François Trinh-Duc, who was probably as surprised as everyone else inside Murrayfield.

Presuming he plays, the little stand-off will be targeted relentlessly in Dublin because it is Test match rugby and someone with suspect defence will be asked to make twice as many tackles as anyone else.

Wales focused their big runners on the No.10 channel at Twickenham and eventually forced Owen Farrell out of the game. Ireland will do the same to Laidlaw because they are not the sort to ignore an obvious chink in their opponents’ armour. Hogg has yet to put a defensive foot wrong but Jones was the other one of the trio to suffer the ignominy of being run over, in his case by big Frenchman Julien Malzieu – not that he needs reminding.

“Across the weekend it was always on my mind,” says the winger. “I was really disappointed, obviously, but it is something I think I need to move on from to make the tackle the next time.

“It’s about learning. I missed that tackle and they scored. That’s how steep the learning curve is. I need to learn from it and make the tackle next time.”

At least Jones scored one at the opposite end of the park although, in typical fashion, he was quick to give the credit to others, since he had little to do except carry the ball over the line. Jones mentions John Barclay’s brilliant turnover, Nick De Luca drawing two defenders and Richie Vernon putting such pace on to the ball that the speedy winger had to engage fifth gear to keep up. It may not be raining buckets of points but at least the worst of the try drought that afflicted the Scots appears to be over.

“There was a lot of pressure before the tournament and after the first game,” says Jones. “But, arguably, we should have had two in Wales and we scored two at the weekend.

“It does lift a bit of pressure because it was always there, the question of whether we could score tries, and I think we have shown we can in the last two games.”

Adding to the attack has undermined Scotland’s defence but it’s a trade most fans would shake on in an instant. If you have to lose to France it is better to do so after scoring two touchdowns and it gave the crowd something to shout about, which hadn’t been the case for a while.

Crucially, it is far easier to tighten up an individual’s defence than it is to teach them how to beat a man. That ability is something that is inherent in all the best attackers.

Jones is sure to have his defence tested again next Saturday afternoon in Dublin. After keeping Vincent Clerc, one of the great poachers of modern times with 33 tries in 59 Tests, under wraps, the Selkirk flyer will likely be marking another tough competitor in Tommy Bowe. The Irish Lion has a more modest try tally but 22 touchdowns in 49 appearances is no one’s idea of failure and Jones (three caps, one try) would bite your arm off for those statistics.

This time a year ago, Jones was playing club rugby, so his learning curve has been steep enough to require a rope and crampons.

Test match rugby is a totally different animal even from the stuff he plays for Edinburgh.

Tiny things can swing a game and, according to Jones, most tries only come as a result of someone’s mistake.

“Test match rugby is just that bit quicker and the reorganisation of defences is hard to identify, especially against a team like Wales who filled the field well.

“It is hard to identify where we are trying to attack. You look back at the video and you can see there is space there but it is harder to identify that on the pitch. There is just that little bit less time to react and the physicality is a step up across the board as well, especially defensively. It seems like it is a totally different game at times. Teams need to make a mistake, more often than not, for you to capitalise on that and that’s when you need to take your chances.”

Jones does not add the obvious point that the opposition rarely have to wait long for Scotland to oblige, although that, it could be argued, comes with blooding young talent. And this particular young talent is repaying the faith Robinson has shown in him by backing the coach to the hilt.

“There’s no doubt the guys want Andy as a coach. They are enjoying it and feel like they are learning. We have been playing well and it has just not quite clicked to get the win but everyone is happy with what is going. The players feel he has brought us on, me included. The whole coaching staff have. Even in the few weeks I have been involved, I think I have improved as a player.”

But will that improvement also apply to results?

“Ireland are definitely beatable. The first three games we have played, we have shown enough to win the games and, if we get everything right, there’s no question we can win the game and I think we all have to have that mentality going into next weekend.”