Gregor Townsend urges Andy Farrell to pick his 'complete' star for Lions

Scotland centre Huw Jones has hit a “sweet spot” in his Test career and is a “more complete player” who would be an “asset” to the British and Irish Lions in Australia this summer, believes head coach Gregor Townsend.

The 31-year-old Glasgow back scored his first Test hat-trick in Saturday’s 31-19 Six Nations victory over Italy, having previously scored two tries in a game on five occasions for his country.

His footwork, guile and finishing ability have now brought him 22 tries in 54 Tests, including 15 in 29 Six Nations matches.

The competition for Lions midfield places is fierce with the likes of club and country team-mate Sione Tuipulotu, Ireland trio Bundee Aki, Garry Ringrose and Robbie Henshaw and England’s Ollie Lawrence in the frame, but Townsend thinks Jones should be part of Andy Farrell’s touring party.

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“He would be an asset [to the Lions],” said Scotland head coach Townsend. “He’s played really well now for a couple of years at the highest level in big games.

“I thought the game against South Africa back in the autumn, he was outstanding, breaking tackles against what’s regarded as the best defensive team in the world.

“He’s a world-class finisher and a very good passer too. He’s got the all-round game that he showed today and he can show again and again for us.

“It’s great to have Huw in this sweet-spot of confidence, experience and physical attributes which means he’s at the top of his game right now.”

Jones used to suffer from a perception he could be suspect defensively, largely stemming from a Scotland horror show at Twickenham in 2017 when his direct England opponent Jonathan Joseph scored a hat-trick of tries in a record 61-21 rout.

But Townsend believes he is a far more rounded player now than when he first burst onto the international scene with a flurry of 10 tries in his first 14 Tests.

“Absolutely, he’s a more complete player now,” he said. “That comes more from his defensive displays. He’s very, very good in defence and that’s a tough position to defend in at 13.

“His work in contact, his work-rate off the ball, you probably don’t see it. We often don’t see it on first viewing, the amount of times him, Stafford [McDowall] and others are tracking to get on ball. They often don’t get ball, but today [Saturday] his off-the-ball work and support play brought its rewards.”

With Jones’ regular centre partner for Scotland, Tuipulotu, ruled out of the Championship with injury, McDowall was given the nod at inside centre against Italy.

While Townsend praised the Glasgow man’s display, he acknowledged Tom Jordan’s contribution off the bench in the final quarter could make for a selection dilemma as Scotland begin their preparations for next Sunday’s crunch game against Ireland.

“Yes, absolutely, it could be,” Townsend said. “[Tom] was one of the options to play 12 in this game, but Stafford did really well, was solid and probably didn’t get the chances that guys outside him got in terms of having the ball in space.

“I think he was walking in for a try off a penalty move, so that would have been a great start for him, but Rory [Darge] ended up scoring on the next phase. So yes, that’s one position we will look at, but there will be many more.

“There is also the benefits of the team playing again, having had that experience together, having trained now for two weeks together. I wouldn’t have thought we would make too many changes, but we’ll see.”

McDowall made an impressive Six Nations debut against Ireland in Dublin in Scotland’s final match of last year’s Six Nations, which could count in his favour.

“He played really well that day,” Townsend noted. “He was very strong defensively and that was an excellent defensive performance out in Dublin.

“But he got more ball that day than he did in this [Italy] match, made a good line-break, was a good second receiver, a good foil for Finn [Russell]. But he’s been doing that since then. So yes, he was selected for a reason against Italy. We believe he’s the best player for us at 12 and he’ll be a strong contender for next week.”

Jones is one of only four Scotland players – along with Finn Russell, Zander Fagerson and Jonny Gray – in the current squad who have a victory over Ireland on their CV, having all started the 27-22 win at Murrayfield in the 2017 Six Nations.

Since Townsend took over following that Championship, the Scots have lost all 10 meetings with Ireland. But the head coach believes the crushing 36-14 defeat in their final pool game of the 2023 World Cup in Paris was a turning point in transforming the squad’s mindset.

“Our players have been able to develop and shape their mindset and their resilience over a number of years now,” he added. “Some of them will be from positive experiences but some of them will be from negative experiences.

“I think that game in Paris had a big influence on who we became as a team after that. It showed in our last game against Ireland (a 17-13 defeat at the end of last year’s Six Nations) in terms of our physical performance but also the mental resilience and confidence out in Dublin.

“That’s a good platform to then grow from and we’ll have to be better than we were in Dublin. We have to have the all-round game, which is to be tough to break down in defence but also clinical in attack. We weren’t clinical that day in attack but we certainly put on a very good defensive performance.”