How Jones ‘desperate’ for a Glasgow Warriors return in bid to regain Test status

A minor setback is “not terminal” and can be salvaged another day, according to the wisdom of Glasgow Warriors coach Dave Rennie, who revealed that dropped Scotland centre Huw Jones is “desperate” to prove he is worthy of a Test comeback.

Huw Jones, back in training with Glasgow Warriors this week, missed out on Scotland’s 17-0 victory over Italy in Rome last weekend. Picture: SNS/SRU

The outside centre, hero of the 2018 Calcutta Cup win, has been on a rocky road of late, falling in and out of favour with both club and country since his move to Glasgow from Western Province in South Africa three 
years ago.

After returning for the first two games of this year’s Six Nations Championship, the ten-try midfielder took his caps tally up to 25. But he wasn’t involved in the squad that won 17-0 against Italy in Rome last weekend.

“Our guys are excellent. Always enthusiastic when they come back in and desperate to play.

“Huw’s no different. He got hold of me immediately when he knew he wasn’t going to be with Scotland last week and said how desperate he was to play.

“A loss is not terminal and I keep telling them that.

“Those Scotland boys often come in halfway through a week and have missed out a bit on our detail but they are straight on their computers and make sure on the Thursday they are up with what they’re doing.

“So the expectation is they’ll come in and front for us.”

Rennie was speaking as he named his team for tonight’s heavyweight clash with third-placed Glasgow facing Guinness Conference A-topping and seemingly invincible Leinster at the RDS in Dublin.

Tighthead prop D’arcy Rae returns to make his first appearance for the club since the two sides met at Scotstoun at the end of November, which ended in a 23-10 win for the Irish province who toppled Glasgow at Celtic Park last year to take the title for a sixth time.

Scotland scrum-half George Horne, inset, also starts alongside his older brother Pete as a fraternal half-back pairing again as five players return to club duty in the second fallow week of the Six Nations.

The midfield combination of Nick Grigg and Jones is retained by Rennie following a solid 34-19 win over Dragons at Scotstoun last week.

It may come in the middle of Six Nations season but a Leinster-Glasgow match is always a tasty prospect.

“Obviously it was a disappointing result for us,” said Rennie, looking back to that home loss to the Irish giants in the wake of the World Cup.

“I think we’re playing a lot better footy now – and we’re going to have to play well. They’re 18 out of 18: it’s phenomenal, isn’t it?

“The quality in depth that they have is unreal.

“They’ve got a few back from the national team as well. We are one side that can go over there and put them under pressure.”

Rennie added: “Leinster are a good side – they’ve got amazing depth. We’re well aware of the challenge, but we’ve got a good side out on the field 
ourselves. It’s nice to welcome back a handful of international boys. We’ve got a lot of experience in the side with eight centurions in the 23. That level of experience combining with our young guys is good for the club.

“We’ve got a game that can trouble anyone – it was a great game over there last year, and we know we’ll have to be at our best to get the better of them in Dublin.”

The global coronavirus outbreak has been a growing concern, with rugby falling into its gravity but Rennie said: “It’s been fine.

“We always have a focus on sanitisation. It’s obviously a big issue around the world but let’s hope it doesn’t get here.”