{"id":243038,"date":"2025-07-06T15:55:25","date_gmt":"2025-07-06T15:55:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/243038\/"},"modified":"2025-07-06T15:55:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-06T15:55:25","slug":"huw-jones-gives-the-inside-track-on-lions-test-centre-combos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/243038\/","title":{"rendered":"Huw Jones gives the inside track on Lions\u2019 Test centre combos"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Huw Jones insists the British and Irish Lions\u2019 centres are fully interchangeable despite the presence of established national combinations as the race for Test selection reaches a critical point.<\/p>\n

While a host of Andy Farrell\u2019s men played their way out of contention for the series against Australia<\/a> in an unimpressive 21-10 victory over the New South Wales<\/a> Waratahs, Jones seized his chance with both hands.<\/p>\n

The 31-year-old ran in two tries in Sydney \u2013 the first the product of his understanding with Scotland<\/a> midfield partner Sione Tuipulotu<\/a> \u2013 in the most eye-catching performance from a 12 or 13 so far on tour.<\/p>\n

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\"VideoBritish & Irish Lions in collaboration with the RugbyPass App<\/p>\n

World Rugby and the British & Irish Lions announce a groundbreaking strategic collaboration that will see the RugbyPass App become the designated home of the British & Irish Lions Tour to Australia in 2025. <\/p>\n

If the Lions<\/a> are to blend their best performing centres against the Wallabies in the first Test on July 19, then Bundee Aki<\/a> and Jones will start.<\/p>\n

The conundrum facing Farrell with two matches to go before the Brisbane opener is whether to reward form or opt for the familiarity provided by the ready-made units of Tuipulotu and Jones or Ireland\u2019s Aki and Garry Ringrose.<\/p>\n

Fixture<\/p>\n

British & Irish Lions<\/p>\n

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Brumbies <\/p>\n

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British & Irish Lions <\/p>\n

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Jones, however, believes after being in camp for three weeks, the quartet have reached a point where they are interchangeable.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a centre group we have been working really hard to get the connections with all of us,\u201d the Glasgow<\/a> Warriors back said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the first try, Sione knows where I\u2019m going to be. We have played loads together and it\u2019s all about timing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt worked against the Waratahs, but there\u2019s no saying it wouldn\u2019t have worked with any other player.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have worked as a unit in building those sorts of connections, whatever combination plays in the next couple of games, so hopefully we will see more results like that.<\/p>\n

\"HuwHuw Jones<\/a> \u2013 PA<\/p>\n

\u201cWe bounce loads of ideas off each other in terms of rugby stuff, but socially as well it has been great to get to know the others. They are great guys and that makes it easier.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you enjoy each other\u2019s company then you\u2019re willing to spend the time with each other on and off the field. That goes for the whole squad.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been a really enjoyable couple of weeks, but once we get on the field we are giving each other all the secrets and trying to help each other out as much as we can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones has scored three tries in as many appearances for the Lions and having joined the tour with a niggling Achilles problem, he is now flying.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the Six Nations<\/a> I was struggling with injury. I got it scanned late on in the season and we managed to then have a bit of an intervention,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt definitely feels better now, which is good. I didn\u2019t play much since the Six Nations, just two games.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo over this last week it has been good over to get two 80 minutes in a row and a bit off the bench against the Western Force. I feel like I have shaken off the dust.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Huw Jones insists the British and Irish Lions\u2019 centres are fully interchangeable despite the presence of established national…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-243038","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114807107013974595","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}