Harlequins set to sign Scotland centre Huw Jones

Scotland centre Huw Jones is considering a contract offer from newly-crowned Premiership champions Harlequins.

Jones had agreed to join Bayonne next season, but is understood to have invoked a relegation clause to withdraw from the move after the French side dropped to the ProD2.

The 27-year-old ended his four-season stint at Glasgow this summer, and has long desired to play in the Top 14. However, with Bayonne’s defeat by rivals Biarritz in the league play-off, he has chosen to pursue options elsewhere and is expected to conclude a deal with Quins in the coming days.

The prospective move is not a loan, and at present there is no agreement between Jones and Bayonne that would see the centre resurrect his move to France should the club win back their top-flight status next year.

The Premiership winners, who dethroned Exeter Chiefs in a pulsating final, have reportedly hired former Canterbury, Baths and Chiefs coach Tabai Matson as their new boss. And Jones, a free-wheeling, line-breaking midfield option, seems well suited to the enthralling Harlequins blueprint, having rediscovered some of his best form in 2020-21.

He initially struggled to replicate his scintillating international fare in a Glasgow shirt after joining the Warriors from the Stormers. He felt that team-mates and coaches unfairly thought him disinterested, and struggled to build a relationship with former head coach Dave Rennie.

When his previous contract expired two years ago, he came close to leaving for Leicester Tigers, and in December 2019, he tried to engineer a loan move back to Cape Town which Glasgow would not sanction.

However, deployed at full-back or centre, Jones was far happier under Danny Wilson last term. His strong performances earned back his place in the Scotland squad, and he scored two tries during the Six Nations. Jones came off the bench to win the most recent of his 31 caps in Scotland’s historic victory over France in Paris.

He was not selected in Mike Blair’s summer squad to play Romania and Georgia as he recovers from a foot operation.