Huw Jones sees Ireland clash as chance to show how far Scotland have come

Huw Jones has called on Scotland to prove they have developed into genuine title contenders by finally landing an elusive win over Ireland next Sunday.

The experienced centre scored a hat-trick as the Scots kicked off their Guinness Six Nations campaign by defeating spirited Italy 31-19 at Murrayfield on Saturday.

But Jones knows his side will need “a really special performance” if they are to end a 10-game losing streak against the Irish since they last beat them in February 2017, four months before current head coach Gregor Townsend took charge.

“Look, we’ve wanted this one for a long time and never quite got it, so it’s a huge challenge for us,” Jones said of Ireland’s upcoming visit to Edinburgh.

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“They’re obviously a very, very good side. And they’ve shown that with all the results in the past – not just against us, but against a lot of other teams.

“We know it’s going to be a massive challenge. It’s a real cliché, but it’s the big-match temperament, that’s what we need to find within this squad. We’ve had it in games in the past but never strung it together. I feel like I say the same thing every year.

“Next week is a chance for us to show how much growth we’ve made. This is the one we want. I mean, they’ve had our number for years now so it’s time to front up and have a really special performance.

“You obviously don’t want to say anything that is going to come back to bite you. I think we have an inner belief in our squad, but we’ve said that before and not been on the right side of the result, so it’s about just turning up and getting the job done.

“We believe we can win, but it’s going out there and doing it. And that’s the real test.”

Scotland held 14-0 and 19-6 leads against Italy following first-half tries by Rory Darge, Jones and Ben White but they were pegged back to 19-19 early in the second half after some flawless long-distance goal-kicking by Tommaso Allan and a breakaway try by Juan Ignacio Brex.

But two scores from Jones in the final quarter took the game away from the Azzurri and secured a bonus-point victory for Townsend’s men as they won their opening fixture in the championship for the fifth year running.

“I think it has been a good start,” said Jones. “I think the fact that the game wasn’t perfect and there were swings of momentum is probably quite good preparation for us.

“There’ll definitely be work-ons, so we’ll look at that in the next couple of days, but the way we wrestled back control and didn’t panic when things went wrong, that was a big focus for us coming into the Six Nations.

“No game’s ever going to be perfect. There’ll be times – swings of momentum – we may go ahead, they may go ahead, but it’s about staying in the fight, not letting the game get away from us, and being there right at the end.”

Jones got himself two simple finishes after keeping pace with jet-heeled wings Duhan van der Merwe and Darcy Graham before completing his first Scotland hat-trick with a magnificent solo effort.

“The tries were all different,” he said. “I was pretty happy to follow Darcy and Duhi around the field and get the passes off them. And then the other one, I had to do a little bit more work for it. I’m really happy to get three tries, it’s always special.”