Keeping Up With The Jones

I AM NOT mourning Huw Jones' departure from Glasgow Warriors. Personnel change is all part of club life, players arrive, establish themselves then, in time, they either are replaced or move-on – it's part of the circle of sporting life.

Now is as good a time as any for Jones to depart. He's 32, coming 33 and has but a handful of years left at this level, these final seasons are probably from his point of view better spent in the sunshine of the south of France rather than in dreich Glasgow. He is a current British and Irish Lion so his value in being able to command a good salary will only decrease in time.

Against that, he is probably, right now, the best 13 in Europe and there cannot be any doubt, Glasgow will miss him and find him difficult to replace. They may not, in the short term, find one of equal calibre, but, Franco Smith will adapt and take the necessary steps – Glasgow will not collapse because one player has left.

Jones too faces a challenge in his new environment. He is one of Scotland's leaders within the International Squad. SRU protocols as to how many games he can play, and how many in succession apply to him – at Toulon he will be expected to be available every week; this will mean careful management during the week, by the player himself.

Harder perhaps to replace will be Adam Hastings, who also heads for La Belle France at the end of the season. In fairness to Adam, he has never reached the stellar heights of his distinguished father, but he has always been a quality operator, thoroughly competent in his role and able to summon occasional moments of magic.

The word on the streets is that Franco Smith would love it if the SRU allowed him to recruit one or maybe two non-Scots to replace the departing duo, but, Ah hae ma doots about even Franco's ability to move the Murrayfield machine to his will.

Here, for once, I am with the High Heid Yins at HQ, I want to see the Glasgow and Edinburgh squads stuffed to the gun'wales with the Scottish international squad; I can understand the occasional need for a specialist NSQ player in a position where we are short, but, as a general rule – Home-Grown is best.

For that plan to work properly, however, would need those major procedural changes at Murrayfield which are never going to happen:

• The independence (to a degree) of the Premiership, entry to which would include meeting certain criteria around club infrastructure etc.

• This would allow the Premiership to become the bridging tier which Super Rugby was never allowed to be.

• A third full-time professional side, with a remit towards playerdevelopment

• Failing which, more meangingful games for the pro teams' fringe players and Academy trainees

As far as replacing the departing Hastings, Dan Lancaster is SQ so should be given the opportunity to develop, but, here's a left-field suggestion – convert George Horne to a ten.

I recall the younger George playing with some authority for Glasgow Hawks in that position and he's a good enough all-round player to, I am certain, adapt to the special demands of being the main play-maker. A Dobie/Horne link does have a certain attraction.