Ignore the fake news… Scots centre Jones was a star for Millfield

Talent: Huw Jones in Millfield 1sts 2011-12

THERE’S a bit of an urban myth going around that needs to be put to bed, namely that star Scotland centre Huw Jones was somehow a bit of a duffer when playing at Millfield School.

Some accounts have him wallowing in the 2nd and 3rd XVs before having a Damascus moment rugby wise when he joined the False Bay club in Cape Town where he was teaching on a gap year.

Not true. Jones was his team’s standout player at scrum-half when Millfield won the Daily Mail U15 Cup but then struggled badly for a couple of seasons with a recurring shin splints problem before making a full recovery and breaking into the First XV as a dashing outside centre in the 2011-12 season, when he also starred in Millfield’s perennially strong Sevens team. Bath back row Tom Ellis was probably Millfield’s other ‘one to watch’ that year. “We remember Huw mainly for that superb outside break of his, one of the best I’ve ever seen,” recalls John Mallet, the master in charge at Millfield.

“He was a great kid who loved playing the game. It speaks volumes that he made it to the top the hard way pitching up at a club in South Africa during his gap year.”