Ruled out of the early part of the Six Nations Championship after being pleasantly surprised to be called into the squad, there has been no moping from Lee Jones as he approaches his off-field duties with missionary zeal.

The 30-year-old winger could not have timed his injuries too much worse this season, playing 80 minutes against Wales in the opening autumn Test of the season, playing 80 minutes but picking up a knee injury which ultimately required minor surgery then, on his next start for Glasgow Warriors against the Ospreys just eight days before the Six Nations got underway, re-injuring the knee.

Clearly rated highly by Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend, who kept the winger’s career alive four years ago by signing him for Glasgow after he had spent time with the Scotland sevens squad, having been released by Edinburgh just two years after playing for Scotland, then also revived his international career as soon as he got the national job, Jones remains hopeful, then, that he could be available to get involved in the closing weeks of the Six Nations.

“I’d like to think I’ll be back fit,” he said. “It’s a long campaign, so I’d like to think my knee won’t be as long as that, but it’s not really got a set timescale, so it’s how it reacts when I start to do bits and pieces. So far, so good.”

Scotland’s rare winning start to a Six Nations offered all the more incentive and he was encouraged by what he saw at the weekend, opting to take the game in at home and watching it with the enthusiasm that he has always had.

“It’s always nice to experience the atmosphere, but it’s easier to see a lot more on TV if you’re watching it more analytically,” he said.

“You’ve got to look at it that way. Part of you is dying to be involved, you want to be on the field, so there’s an element of that, but I always watched Scotland before I ever had the chance to play for Scotland and that never goes away.

“The Six Nations is really exciting, the first game and knowing all the boys when you’re just fresh out of the squad, I’m just keen for everybody to do well and getting off to a good start to the Six Nations was big.

“It was good, solid start. The middle period was pretty good and obviously they’ll be disappointed to have tailed off a little bit when Italy came back, but to get a bonus point in the first game is a great start.

“We’d talked a lot in camp about the way it’s set up this year, starting with two home games is a first positive when in the past we’ve always struggled with the first game. It’s hard to get that win, but it sets you off on the right foot.”

In the meantime, as well as starting his re-hab, the extra time he has available has allowed him to evangelise on behalf of the sport and while Jones hails from Selkirk, a town with a population, he is aware that in rugby terms he is now in an environment where there is much preaching to do.

“Rugby is in the culture down in the Borders, but you speak to a lot of people in schools in the cities and the primary sport tends to be football and it’s maybe more towards the private schools that are into their rugby, which seems to be the dynamic of it, whereas back home it was always rugby that seemed to be the first sport,” he said.

“I was never into football myself. A lot of my mates played football, but it was just a big rugby culture and that’s what you lean towards when you’re at school there.”

He was consequently delighted to be invited to Whitelee Windfarm to launch the latest edition of a long overdue initiative that is bringing the sport to state schools in the city and wider district. The SP Energy Networks’ Warriors Championship will see more than 1,000 girls and boys from 25 schools compete at Scotstoun over the next few weeks, the rest seeking to displace Shawlands Academy, who have taken the title for the last two years after Carrick Academy took the honours in the inaugural running of the event in 2015.

“It’s nice to have it here at Scotstoun and see loads of kids enjoying rugby. You speak to the parents and they know it’s good for the kids to have options in terms of sport,” said Jones.

His own sporting background included gymnastics, karate and golf and he is a believer in the benefits of learning multiple sports as a youngster.

“I think it’s big. It all transfers and can only help going into other sports. The fundamentals are the same in terms of hand-eye coordination, fitness, strength and athleticism across the board, so my view is that you would say to kids ‘do as much as possible’ and in terms of Glasgow it’s good to see kids playing rugby.

“I think the Warriors have been great for an increase in profile for rugby in general. The taxi drivers have heard of the Warriors now. That seems to be a shift.

“When you engage with the kids when the matches are on there’s an awareness there and a lot of them come along to Scotstoun. It’s not a case of just doing rugby because that’s what they’re told to do. I think there are generally kids who are enjoying it and into their rugby. It’s nice to spread the game and get kids into the sport.”

Played in a 10-a-side format among boys S! and S2 teams and under-15 girls teams, the SP Energy Networks’ Warriors Championship gets underway tonight and will build towards semi-finals on March 27, with the finals being played ahead of the final Pro14 match of the season, between Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh on April 27.