Rugby Union: Jones and Waugh go west

THE TRANSCONTINENTAL traffic in elderly, if accomplished, southern hemisphere internationals is beginning to resemble the M25 on an unusually busy Friday night. Two Antipodean locks were the talk of the West Country yesterday as Ian Jones, the veteran All Black, agreed terms with Gloucester at precisely the same moment as Warwick Waugh, the former Wallaby, shook hands on a deal at Bath.

As far as Clive Woodward, the England coach, was concerned, it might as well have been Tom Jones and Auberon Waugh. "Am I going to see any English talent in the Premiership next season?" he was heard to ask during last week's Centenary Test sojourn in Sydney. It was very much a rhetorical question, and a barbed one at that.

Woodward's protectionist leanings did not provoke even the slightest degree of soul-searching at Kingsholm or the Recreation Ground. "Ian is one of the best second rows in the world and he will bring a vast amount of experience to our young front five," said Philippe Saint-Andre, the Gloucester coach, neatly side-stepping the fact that Jones' presence will leave one of those youngsters kicking his heels on the bench.

If Jones is the big name, Waugh is the more intriguing capture. Bath's sharp decline from European champions to Premiership also-rans last season was largely attributable to a lack of firepower in the bump and grind and there is no doubt that the 6ft 8in Queensland Red is handsomely equipped to correct that particular failing. Capped eight times by his country, the 30-year-old Super 12 regular is a dependable line-out forward, a punishing scrummager and a rare old handful in the loose. His partnership with Steve Borthwick, an England lock in the making, will underpin Bath's European challenge next season.

Jones, meanwhile, will put plenty of bums on seats at Kingsholm when he arrives in November, although he is certain to disrupt the Rob Fidler- Mark Cornwell axis widely considered to constitute the best all-English engine room in the country.

With established Test locks such as Martin Johnson, Tim Rodber, Danny Grewcock, Garath Archer and Simon Shaw all playing their club rugby in the Premiership and youngsters like Borthwick moving up through the representative ranks, the red rose selectors are not wholly bereft of second-row viewing options on a Saturday afternoon. But England and France, with their club- driven domestic games, appear to be growing increasingly isolated in their pursuit of foreign imports. The southern hemisphere is virtually closed to non-nationals, while the Celtic nations are concentrating their efforts on bringing back their own players from various points of the rugby compass.

The international rumpus surrounding Jason Jones-Hughes, who has abandoned his future as a Wallaby in favour of a more immediate World Cup future with Wales, continued at pace yesterday. "We can't afford to lose someone like Jason because we need all the depth we can get," said Rod Macqueen, the Australia coach.

John O'Neill, the Australian Rugby Union chief executive, was more outspoken, describing as "irrational" the Welsh decision to name the player in their World Cup squad.

However, the Welsh are confident of winning the scrap over Jones-Hughes' eligibility and assuming that they do so, they will look rather more rational than their Wallaby rivals.