Huw Jones: 'Glasgow can definitely make it out of the Champions Cup group'
- Published
Champions Cup: Glasgow Warriors v Montpellier |
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Venue: Scotstoun Stadium Date: Friday, 8 December Kick-off: 19:35 GMT |
Coverage: Listen on BBC Radio Scotland (FM), 5 live sports extra and the BBC Sport website |
New arrival Huw Jones insists Glasgow Warriors can still qualify for the European Champions Cup quarter-finals.
Friday's home match against Montpellier is a must-win game for Dave Rennie's side, who have lost both Pool 3 outings without earning a point.
Centre Jones, 23, is set to make his Warriors debut in the fixture after a compelling autumn series with Scotland.
"From what I've heard they were both fairly close," Jones said of the defeats to Exeter Chiefs and Leinster.
"Two losses isn't good, but the way the guys have been performing in the league we can't lose hope. We can definitely make it out of the group.
"A couple of weeks [after losing to Leinster], Glasgow beat Leinster [in the Pro14]. There'd have to be questions to be answered, but that's more just down to did the guys turn up, and they probably didn't on that day."
Already, Jones has compiled a noteworthy rugby CV, helping previous side Stormers to back-to-back Super Rugby play-offs in 2016 and 2017, where they were beaten in both seasons by Rennie's Chiefs.
Before arriving in Scotland, the centre scored a try in South Africa's Currie Cup final, with his Western Province team lifting the trophy.
Jones, who agreed to join Glasgow some 10 months ago, made his Test debut against Japan in June 2016, and has now bagged seven tries in 11 internationals.
Six of those touchdowns came against the world's top-three ranked teams - New Zealand (one), England (two) and Australia (three).
"It's great to finally be here," Jones said of his arrival at Scotstoun. "There's been a lot of waiting around, but I'm finally here and it's good to be involved with the squad.
"I've been looking forward to working with Dave Rennie and some of the other guys I haven't played with.
"I've chatted to [Rennie] on the odd occasion, once in South Africa, once over the phone, but he had a lot on his plate and so did I.
"He's considered to be one of the best in the world, and as a player you want to be coached by the best to give yourself the best possible chance to become a better player. I'm excited to work with him and see how he can improve me.
"I've played with [the Scotland boys] before so it won't be too unfamiliar.
"Going on from that it is a massive game. I just hope that from my personal point of view I can keep that form going from the autumn Tests."
CHAMPIONS CUP POOL 3 | ||||||||
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Team | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against | Bonus Pts | Points |
Leinster | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 58 | 35 | 2 | 10 |
Exeter | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 51 | 39 | 0 | 8 |
Montpellier | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 41 | 51 | 3 | 3 |
Glasgow Warriors | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 33 | 58 | 0 | 0 |
Glasgow have made a flying start to life in the revamped Pro14, winning all 10 of their league contests to date.
But defeats by Exeter Chiefs away, and Leinster at Scotstoun have left them bottom of Pool 3, with Montpellier three points better off in third place.
Warriors' chances of reaching the quarter-finals for only the second time in their history are already extremely remote, and would likely rely on Rennie's men winning all four of their remaining fixtures.
They are without injured Scotland full-back Stuart Hogg and hooker Fraser Brown for the visit of the French heavyweights, who are led by former Scotland boss Vern Cotter.
"We definitely need to carry on performing in big games like these," Jones told BBC Scotland.
"We've lost our first two but we have one more chance to save it. We'll still have to win the rest of them, but it's definitely good for the guys to keep performing in these games.
"We have to win this in order to keep our hopes alive."