Scotland Rugby News Vern Cotter has sprung a huge surprise by calling up South African based centre Huw Jones from the South African Stormers to replace Finn Russell for the Summer Tour of Japan.
Huw Jones of the Stormers during the Super Rugby match between DHL…
Huw Jones of the Stormers during the Super Rugby match between DHL Stormers and Reds at DHL Newlands Stadium on April 23, 2016 in Cape Town, South Africa. Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images
In what has to be the biggest surprise since the Kiwi Leslie brothers opted to play for Scotland back in 1998, it was announced today that Huw Jones of the Cape Town based Stormers Super Rugby side would be drafted in to replace the injured Finn Russell on the Summer tour of Japan.
The 22 year old Edinburgh born centre had been widely touted as a future Welsh, English or South African star on account of his mixed heritage and time spent in the Cape, so it will be seen as a major coup that he has opted for the Thistle of Scotland over the Rose, Daffodil or Springbok.
[blockquote author=”Huw Jones” pull=”normal”]”I’m delighted to get this opportunity to play for Scotland. It’s a dream come true.”[/blockquote]
Whilst he may not have been on the radar of too many Scotland fans, his head turning exploits against some of the world’s best in Super Rugby have clearly caught the attention of the Scotland coaching staff, who have made the unusual step of picking a player currently signed to a Southern Hemisphere side. To be fair to Cotter, he has previous form of making left field choices having picked unattached New Zealand native John Hardie for the Rugby World Cup warm ups.
In order to continue his international ambitions it would be safe to assume Jones will opt to move north following any Scotland cap. Whether or not that means signing to Edinburgh/Glasgow, or to the AVIVA Premiership/Top14 remains to be seen.
Either way, it will come as a major boost to a Scotland squad rocked by injuries to Alex Dunbar, Tim Visser and Finn Russell and will see even more strength added to the already exciting Scotland centres.
Here are some of his highlights
Ali Lockhart
Andy
Jeff A Wood Andy McPhail
Good call up.
Plays against the biggest and best in the world so of course it’s gona be a good call up!! In Vern we trust #AsOne
Huw Jones
Murray Wankling
Matt Khoury thoughts?!
Simon Turner
Carolyn Jones something your hubby forgot to mention?
Ahahahaha!!! You’ve made my day!!
Ross Craig this boy any good ?
I don’t follow the Stormers too closely, so not too sure how good he is, but he’s still pretty new to Super Rugby. South African rugby is bleeding players to Europe at the moment with the weak Rand, but good luck to him.
George Williams Mark Fisher Tom Richardson
Fraser Tod
Colin Forbes
This was known 😉
Dom Rey
Jennifer Calvert
Baz Barron
Looks decent but what is wrong with Weir??
weir is shite! get him as far away from the national team as possible. Weir has proved time and time again he is not up to it at international level
Exactly. The guy is 2 1 dimensional so he is.
Gary Tosh not so much that, it’s that he’s too slow and when he does make decisions he rushes them! He can’t keep a cool head in key moments! He makes things too complicated when he needs to keep them simple! I could go on and on. He’s a good club player and that’s fine but he’s not up to scratch at international level!
He’s shit. Having said that though, he was at least born here.
Paul Haire huw jones was born in Edinburgh, went to school in Somerset and plays for the stormers in SA
Paul Haire weir is quality. U clearly haven’t been watching many Glasgow matches
Another Hugh Blake ??
Hopefully more like another John Hardie.
Hardly fair to insinuate Hugh Blake has been disappointing as he was part of the 7s team that won Scotland’s first trophy since the last 5 nations
Stuart Wotherspoon
Angus Oatts
Looks like a good call Vern.
Chris Drysdale
Hmm, not sure how I feel about this…..surely could have been a home grown who was worth a chance? Long term, we just keep plucking people from abroad?
Was he not born n Edinburgh?
Born in Edinburgh, educated in England. He just happens to have made his breakthrough in South Africa. Very sensible selection.
Ah, fair enough. Guess the quetion is then, why don’t we produce players like that
here?
Ally Cooper
Makes a mockery of all the academies, age group, U20’s, Sevens, development officers and the like if you are still pulling these stunts. Trying to build a castle from the top down doesn’t work.
If you play in the super league then your going to be a quality player especially playing for the stormers alongside players such as Etzabeth and De Jong
Rory Alexander
He’s about as Scottish as you I suppose Mike Duncan!
Ryan Cairney
Scott Baird
No doubt he is a good player but why not take someone who is coming through the ranks in Scotland. He could be introduced gradually not pushed ahead of young players working their way through the age levels.
Getting him stops others nabbing him
I reckon destination is Edinburgh – we need a centre
Jonathan
Don’t forget Richie Vernon is Scotland centre as well and has been greatly missed this year. Greay move to get this guy
David Gerrard looks decent
looks a good player and a solid tackler. a good catch for old Vern and his staff.
Jordan Littlewood Josh Baines James Kerr this guy looks incredible it also turns out his uncle is a taxi driver in Edinburgh
Jake Jack