HUW Jones had a rather bemused look on his face as he joined up with the Scotland squad for their training camp ahead of the Autumn Tests that begin next week. The kind of look you sport when your brain says you’re sitting in the outskirts of Edinburgh, but your body is screaming to be in bed. And then, your thoughts are probably 8000 miles away, at the party you left to come training.

The previous 48 hours had been a whirlwind for the Scotland centre. On Saturday he produced a man of the match performance, scoring two tries as Western Province came from 21-10 down to score 23 unanswered points to lift the Currie Cup in Durban. After a curtailed celebration, the 23-year-old packed his bags on Sunday and flew overnight to Edinburgh, ready to pick up where he left off with Scotland, before becoming a permanent fixture with Glasgow.

Without so much as a yawn, Jones said; “Since the game finished, there were celebrations, firstly in the changing rooms and then back to the hotel. They carried on into the night. Then I flew back to Cape Town the next morning. Then it was straight home for me to pack my bags and get back to the airport. And I landed this morning around 7.30am.

 “Sleep? There’s been little to none,” he laughed. “I slept a bit on the flight but I can’t say the same about the night before,” said the Edinburgh-born back, who was delighted to sign off on his Western Province adventure with such a historic win.

“It was the perfect ending really. The first piece of silverware I’ve won in South Africa. It was nice to get that before I left and a good performance as well. I could not have wished for a better send off from Western Province, getting on the end of two team tries and winning the trophy.”

While there is much to look forward to in Scotland, leaving the Cape for Jones is something of a bittersweet experience for him, especially with the trophy to celebrate.

“I’ve been looking forward to this but Western Province will always have a place in my heart. It was very emotional leaving Cape Town.

“If I hadn’t been called up here it would probably have been a week-long celebration. There was nothing planned in particular - I would have had to plan that myself and that’s not my strong suit. It was just nice to have a beer in the dressing room with the trophy.”

A torn hamstring against Italy during the Six Nations meant Jones missing five months of rugby, and most importantly, denied him a place on the Scotland summer tour, meaning he has yet to work with new coach Gregor Townsend. Jones is planning to make up for lost time on all fronts having joined the Scotland party.

“During the Six Nations, I heard that we would be off to Singapore, Australia and Fiji and I thought I would love to visit those places and play rugby there. It was very disappointing to miss out.

 “I thought the guys played some great rugby, it was the first time under Gregor and it was exciting to watch. I woke up early to watch the Australia match and got fairly excited. It is very exciting to be back now because not only did I miss the summer tour, but the whole of Super Rugby too.

“I’m very much looking forward to it. I’ve seen what Gregor’s done with Glasgow and what he did in the summer (with Scotland). Having spoken to the Glasgow boys, they only have good things to say about him and how he coaches.

`”I had a couple of days up in St Andrews. So, I’m very excited to work with him.”

After this week’s camp is over, Jones becomes a Glasgow player, although he won’t be involved with the game against Leinster this weekend.

 “I think that was decided as soon as we (Western Province) made the final, that I wasn’t going to play this weekend.

“But I’ve got no worries about being fresh. I’ve played enough Currie Cup rugby. I’m fine.”

Jones’ career in the dark blue has been somewhat meteoric. But rather than being considered a shooting star, Jones is looking to shine for a while yet.

 “I missed a lot of rugby and my thoughts going into the Currie Cup was just to try and get back to the same form as last year. I don’t want to be the one-season wonder. I’m hoping to keep building and improving and not think ‘now I’ve made it’ he concluded.

Meanwhile Scotland assistant coach Matt Taylor said there were no injury concerns within the squad.