Exclusive:Scotland's top Six Nations slayer of England unaware of record as rest comes at right time

In the last eight months he has been an ever-present for the Lions in the Test series win in Australia, was named in World Rugby’s annual Dream Team (one of only five northern hemisphere players to make the cut) and, a fortnight ago, became Scotland’s leading Six Nations try-scorer of all time thanks to his double in the win over England.

At 32, Jones is ageing like a fine wine. The two-try haul against England took his Six Nations tally to 18, more than Duhan van der Merwe and more than Darcy Graham. Not bad for a player who went travelling to South Africa on a gap year, got signed on a pro contract by the Stormers and ended up a Scotland legend.

His record in the Calcutta Cup is something else: eight games, eight tries and five victories. Maro Itoje and co must be sick of the sight of him.

His latest brace - his third in the fixture - means he has scored more career tries against England than any other player in the championship.

“I didn't know that,” he says in an exclusive interview with The Scotsman. “It's obviously a cool thing to have. But, I don't know, it's not like intentional. In those fixtures, I just seem to be able to get on the end of a few tries.”

Jones is not one to blow his own trumpet and quick to praise his team-mates. He also comes across as a somewhat reluctant hammer of the English and is keen to point out that he has nothing against England, understandable given he grew up south of the border after leaving Edinburgh at the age of two when his parents relocated for work.

“I don't think it's a personal thing for me. As a team, we seem to nail the emotion and what it takes to beat England. If I look back at all the good results we've had against England over the last few years, it's when the team has been firing and pretty much everything's gone well for us. We've started well, set-piece has been good, our attack's been firing, our defence has been strong, we get turnovers.

“It's one of those games that is probably the easiest to get up for. We know how much it means to the public and what it means to us as players. But also we seem to just get it right on those days.

“I've been the recipient of getting on the end of a few tries, which is great for me personally. But I wouldn't say I played particularly much better in those games. I've just managed to get on the end of a few.”

Jones’ latest Calcutta Cup moments will go down in folklore

The two at Murrayfield a couple of weeks ago will live long in the memory. One came via a sumptuous one-handed flick from Finn Russell and the other after Matt Fagerson had charged down George Ford’s drop-goal attempt.

“It's just situational, isn't it?” reflects Jones. “The first one, you get a one-on-one with the forward [Itoje] and you just back yourself on the outside. And the second one, all it really was was a run-in from about halfway.”

The thing is, though, no-one was catching Jones. The Glasgow Warriors centre spent five months out after the Lions tour as he recovered from an operation to cure a long-standing Achilles issue. It was a not insignificant injury but Jones has come back better than ever and lost none of his pace.

As well as being Scotland’s top try-scorer in the Six Nations, he is up to fourth in the men’s national side’s all-time list. Jones has 25 tries, with only Graham and van der Merwe (both 35) and Stuart Hogg (27) ahead of him. The double against England moved Jones one clear of Tony Stanger and Ian Smith, who are now joint fifth.

The Calcutta Cup victory also reinvigorated Scotland's campaign after the opening defeat in Italy, and they followed up the England game with a hard-fought win in Wales.

With two rounds to go, the Six Nations is alive with opportunity for Gregor Townsend’s squad who welcome championship leaders France to Murrayfield next Saturday. “A huge game,” says Jones, who will move to France next season to play for Toulon. Future team-mates Charles Ollivon, Jean-Baptiste Gros, Baptiste Serin and Gael Drean could all be playing against him next week.

“I've actually not met any of them,” he says. “Well, I've played against them before, but not in that sense of knowing that they'll be team-mates next season. It will be good to go up against them.”

“France have been great,” he says of the table toppers who have the maximum haul of 15 points, four more than the Scots. “A very strong team across the board. Huge pack, very quick backs, a lot of skill, great control in their half-backs. Look, they're clearly one of the best teams in the world right now and we've seen that with their results over the last three weeks. So it'll be tough. But we're back at home, so very excited for it. The atmosphere of the England game was unbelievable, so we're expecting similar from the crowd next week.”

Jones’ post surgery lay-off meant a prolonged rehabilitation. He was off his feet for over six weeks and had to build up slowly from walking to jogging to running.

“When you're rehabbing that sort of injury, I wasn't out on the field, I was in the gym. I was doing a gym session every day, which is more than you do when you're fit.”

He was aided by Move Pre-Workout, a supplement developed in Scotland which is designed to help athletes train harder. “I found that that was really helping,” says Jones. “By the time I did come back to training, I was in probably some of the best physical shape I've been in in my career. My weight hasn't fluctuated an awful lot during my career, but I've probably found my optimum physique at this point. And I just felt so strong when I got back into running, when I got back to training, sort of, I was able to get my fitness pretty quickly.”

It’s unusual for a back to peak past his thirties but Jones is showing no signs of slowing down, something he attributes to his unusual path into pro rugby.

“I was a late developer. I came into professional rugby probably later than a lot of guys who come through academies and although I've probably been around the game for just over 10 years now, I probably haven't played a huge amount of rugby.

“I think I've had a few injuries but only a couple that have been really long ones and I’ve found that they are actually really good opportunities. Like, boys can get really down about their injuries and rightly so, and it can be difficult to come back from them. But I found that they're huge opportunities as well to just sort of reset physically and come back better and stronger. You get a little bit more time to work on areas of your game that you probably don't have the time to do during the week when you are fit.

“If you're playing game after game, it's difficult to do all the little extras when you're absolutely knackered at the end of like a big session. Whereas coming back from injury, you do get that little bit more time. So yeah, I think I've been able to develop, I guess, a certain longevity.

“And I certainly don't feel now physically like the age that I am. I mean, four or five years ago, if I thought like, oh, at the age of 32, I'd be feeling this good, I'd be like, no, that's ridiculous. You see guys get to that age and probably think about retiring.

“But right now, I feel like that's a long way off because of how good I feel. And that's probably down to my genetics a little bit, but also the hard work that I put in each time I've been injured and each time I've had the opportunity to kind of reset physically.”

Jones happy for a bit of rest

He is certainly glad to have had the Achilles issue fixed, an injury that had been hampering him for some time.

“I played, although I was kind of on and off towards the end of last season,” he explains. “Like I played the Six Nations and then had quite a few weeks off trying to rehab the injury and then came back in for the summer. It was almost like plastering over the cracks, doing that. So getting surgery was definitely the best thing for me.”

There is one fewer rest week in the Six Nations this season so Jones is glad of the break this weekend after playing against Italy, England and Wales on consecutive Saturdays. Each Scotland game has been its own mini-psychodrama. Defeat in the monsoon of Rome was the obvious nadir and made the Calcutta Cup victory seven days later all the more special. Last weekend was exacting in a different way. Scotland trailed 20-5 in the second half to Wales before coming back to win 26-23 in Cardiff.

“It’s good to get a rest,” says Jones. “The new schedule, with only one week off, makes it pretty important to get all the recovery in. It's been a good week. We did a bit of training Wednesday, Thursday and the main thing this weekend is just get the body right for Monday.

“There obviously is a little bit more physicality than in the club game, much more intensity. But it's also the emotional toll that it takes. So three in a row is pretty tough.

“They've all been really different games and it's been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. But I think what's pleasing is that we've stuck at it for 80 minutes in each one in obviously different circumstances. We've got a good belief in the squad, though obviously the next two weeks will be tough.”

After France at Murrayfield, it’s Ireland in Dublin on the final weekend for Scotland, with a Triple Crown on the line for Townsend’s side, maybe even more if they can pull off an upset next week. Unsurprisingly, Jones isn’t thinking about Ireland and Super Saturday just yet.

“The messaging within the squad is around trying not to have any distractions at all. Obviously, the first game was really disappointing, but it’s about trying not to get too up or too down, really.

“It would have been easy after that first game to think, like, you kind of lose hope. And then in the same way, it would have been easy, maybe after the second game to think, ‘oh, we're brilliant’. But trying to stay level throughout and focus one game at a time has been a key message for us over those first three weeks.

“And that'll obviously continue now. We've got a massive game next week and all the focus is on that. There's no point thinking about the last game of the championship when you've still got a game in front of that.

“I think I've experienced a real maturity within the squad. We've got a group that's been together now for a few years and obviously, guys come in, guys leave, but on the whole, we're quite an experienced group together. And I think that's been really good.

“Certainly it's an exciting time. Off the back of two wins, we've given ourselves a chance. But the full focus is on next week. We'll be going in Monday morning and doing everything we can to put ourselves in the best place possible. We'll be all guns blazing for next week, I think, which will be great.”

Huw Jones has partnered with MOVE Pre-Workout, a premium Scottish supplement brand which uses science-backed performance formulas.