The implementation of Super Six may have been horribly ham-fisted, but reinforcement of the case for introducing a new tier in which professional rugby players can be nurtured was unintentionally provided in Lee Jones’ account of his experience last weekend.
Coming back from injury the Scotland winger had been sent back to his native Borders with Glasgow Hawks to play a try-scoring part in the 47-27 victory which broke their season’s duck, leaving still winless Hawick at the foot of the table.
“It was nice, there was a few cheers, ‘well done the Warriors’,” he reported, with a smile.
Harmless enough banter no doubt but there is many a true word spoken in jest and however delivered, the jibe summed up the ‘damned if they do, damned if they don’t,’ situation in which professional players have been caught for the past 20 years when it comes to turning out in the club game. Not that there was a trace of complain in Jones’ account, it must be stressed, since he was just delighted to be back in action on day that saw his fellow Warriors do far from well in slumping to an embarrassing defeat at the Southern Kings.
“I love Mansfield Park, it’s good to get back down the road, get back home. It was good to get a run about at the weekend and then I saw the Kings score on Saturday, which obviously is a disappointing result and looking on is tough to watch,” he observed.
The nature of professional team sport is, though, that injury or poor performance by fellow squad members, represents an opportunity for others. So, after a start to the season that has seen the Warriors pick a very settled back three - the only change enforced when Ruaridh Jackson came in for the injured Stuart Hogg - that abysmal performance in Port Elizabeth creates an opportunity to impress at just the right time for Jones with the European Champions Cup and autumn internationals looming.
“The last couple of weeks I wasn’t quite fit in order to go to South Africa and I’ve been able to spend them getting my training load back up and it’s been really good to get a run about at club level. Then coming off the back of that feeling good and ready to go,” he noted, declaring himself fully fit after recovering from knee and Achilles tendon injuries.“I think alongside that Dave (Rennie, their head coach) said he was keen to make a few changes after that trip. The boys had been away for two weeks, some guys have played four games on the bounce. Four tough games so he was always going to make a few changes.
“It underlines the fact that when you get your chance you’ve got to take it. Whether you’ve been in the team for four weeks or whether you’re a guy that’s looking to come in to a team. If you’re putting on the Glasgow jersey you’ve got to do a job if you want a chance to play the next week.”
That, he reckons, has been reflected in the mood across the squad since their return from that dismal experience on the Dark Continent.
“It’s almost like, in rugby you get a chance to play the next week and I think the guys are just desperate to try and put right what could have been a lot better at the weekend,” said Jones. “All focus on Dragons... a few reality checks potentially, just realising that we need to be better.”
Still top of their conference in spite of that setback, the first opportunity to put things right will be presented by the Dragons in an inter-conference clash on Saturday, opponents who are always expected to be stuffy, but that the Warriors would also always be expected to beat comfortably, especially at home as they will be.
“I think they’ve made a few signings this year. They won against Zebre last weekend. I think they would have been disappointed with the first couple of results,” said Jones.
“I watched the first game of the season against Treviso and I’m sure they would have been disappointed with the result there especially at their home ground. They’ve got some strengths, In the last few seasons we’ve had some tough games against Dragons whether it be here or whether it be down there, it’s been really tough and given the result at the weekend we need to be at our best.”
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