Canada v Scotland: Opportunity knocks for Lee Jones in World Cup selection race

Lee Jones (right) hopes to turn his Scotland career from stop-start to regular starter

When talking to Lee Jones the other day, the precarious nature of life as a professional rugby player hit home as he told the story of his six-year, eight-cap Test career with Scotland.

Jones was brought into the international arena in 2012 when Andy Robinson was still in charge. He got four caps in that year's Six Nations and the best that you can say about his first coming as a Test player was that he was consistent - beaten, beaten, beaten, beaten.

The wing then had five years waiting for the phone to ring. Scott Johnson and Vern Cotter came and went and Jones remained on those four caps and four defeats. Last summer, Gregor Townsend rewarded him for his excellent form by picking him to play against Australia in Sydney.

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Jones played his part in a momentous victory. He was back in again for the autumn, firstly against Samoa and then against New Zealand. In that thrilling near miss against the All Blacks, he played well.

At that point, the wheels came off. No rhyme or reason. No warning. When Townsend picked his 23 to play against the Wallabies in the final Test of the November series, Jones was left out. The only thing that came close to matching his disappointment was his shock.

"In Sydney last summer, I went back into the changing room after the game and I said to the boys, 'you know what? That was my first win'," said Jones.

Jones reached the Pro14 semi-finals with Glasgow Warriors

"I was so happy, because I'd come through a lot of hard years. Everybody knows about the physical side of rugby. You can see it every time we play, but the mental side of it is something you don't see most of the time and that can be the hardest thing to overcome.

"I was happy with the way I played in Australia in the summer and I thought I did well against the All Blacks in the autumn, so to miss out on the November game was a real blow.

"I wanted to go, 'are you being serious?' I wanted to argue the case, but you can't. I've never heard of a coach being approached by a player who has been dropped and then reinstating him just because the player didn't think it was fair. That's not going to happen.

"There's no point in getting angry or banging on doors. What else can I do? And, anyway, look what happened. Byron [McGuigan] was picked ahead of me, got two tries and we scored more than 50 points in a record win.

"You just have to take it on the chin. If the last few years have taught me anything it's that the line between getting picked and not getting picked is practically nothing. It's tiny. You just need to make the most of every single moment you have out there."

Given that Townsend has until the final week of August 2019 to submit his final squad for the World Cup in Japan, it might seem a little odd to talk about clocks ticking and opportunities having to be seized, but we're approaching that point for sure.

Scotland will play 14, possibly 15, Test matches in the 14 months before Townsend has to show his hand. That's a long run-in, but then, Townsend has a lot of players to think about.

Gone are the days when a 31-man squad could be picked in five minutes on the basis that the Scotland coach wasn't exactly flush with options. There are a lot more tight calls to make these days.

Four years ago, four centres made it. As it stands, there are nine players in the picture. Huw Jones and Alex Dunbar, Peter Horne and Matt Scott, Duncan Taylor and Nick Grigg, Mark Bennett and Chris Harris and, now, the new cap from Harlequins, James Lang. Who are the certainties if all are fit? Jones, Taylor and Horne, you'd guess. The long-shots? Harris and Lang. That's one position left for the remaining four.

Huw Jones and Alex Dunbar are two of nine players contending for centre spots

This won't be easy. Considering that Taylor will almost certainly travel as a centre who can also play wing, then there might be only be a need for three more wings from a group that currently holds Tommy Seymour, Sean Maitland, Blair Kinghorn, McGuigan and Jones. Good players will end up going nowhere near Japan next year.

If you told him that he had to name his squad right now, Townsend would get to 20 names in very quick order. He might even get to 21 or 22. Then, the big calls would have to be made. The third loose-head, the third scrum-half, the right balance of centres, the fourth lock, the extra two or three flankers to accompany John Barclay and Hamish Watson.

Injury and form will change the landscape between now and then, but the point is made by Jones, a man who has lived through the reality of this situation.

Fourteen months might seem a long time, but it isn't, because players like him, in an ultra-competitive position where the gap between the chosen ones and ones left at home could be minimal, don't have all the time in the world to state their case. Yes, there are many Test matches, but how many of them will the fringe operators get to play in? How many chances can they realistically hope to get? Not many.

When Townsend was talking about the team he picked for Sunday's Canada Test, he used one word over and over again. The word was "opportunity". He said it of Harris and Lang in the midfield, of Jones and McGuigan on the wing, of Sam Hidalgo-Clyne at nine, of Magnus Bradbury and Jamie Ritchie on the flanks. They have their opportunity, he said. It's up to them to take it.

Just over 10,000 tickets have been sold for the game. Nobody will mistake the Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton as the centre of the rugby world at the weekend, but the starting gun for selection for Japan has to go off at some point - and this is the time.