CAPE TOWN - Western Province centre Huw Jones says he will do his best to lift the Currie Cup trophy with WP before he heads to Europe.
The Scotland international, who made his Test debut against Japan in 2016, earlier this year signed a two-year deal with Glasgow Warriors, who he will join after the Currie Cup.
The 23-year-old put himself on the radar of the Scotland selectors with impressive performances for the Stormers over the past few years, and was rewarded for his top form with a call-up to the national side last season.
And after featuring for Scotland, the Edinburgh-born back is excited to be back in Cape Town.
“It’s great to be back, I’m just enjoying it,” Jones said. “There’s still a lot of room for improvement in my personal game and I’m working hard for that. This is my last chance to win something with Province. So I’m obviously going to give it my all and I know the other guys will as well.”
The hamstring injury he sustained during the Scotland’s Six Nations match against Italy meant Jones didn’t get to light up the Super Rugby stage as he would have liked. But the midfielder with a solid passing game and deceptive pace is now solely focused on the Currie Cup.
“I set myself the goal of playing Super Rugby before the end of the season, but things didn’t go my way. My hamstring didn’t hold up and I had to wait a little bit longer. But I’m glad I have the opportunity to finish off with a few Currie Cup games and hopefully win it,” he said.
Thanks @dill10leyds for coming down to help us out. You did good son 👍 #lovethisteam pic.twitter.com/HDSIgqgwpc
— Huw Jones (@HRFJones) August 19, 2017
And when asked how his international stints have influenced his productions in local rugby, Jones said: “It’s given me a lot of confidence and it made my game a little sharper in all aspects. I think to survive in Test rugby you have to be able to improve and to bring that back here.”
Regarding their match against the Cheetahs at Newlands on Saturday, Jones said he wants to see his team keep ball in hand more - as opposed to their matches against the Golden Lions and Sharks, where WP did most of the defending.
“I would like to see our carries outweigh our tackles. We cough up the ball sometimes and then we want to score as soon as we get the ball and we get desperate,” Jones said.