'We think we can beat anyone' - Scotland centre Huw Jones

Scotland centre Huw Jones is upbeat about his team's chances in the upcoming Rugby World Cup campaign that will kick-off next month in France.

The draws for the showpiece event were formed in 2020 and as a result Scotland, who are currently at the fifth position in the World Rugby Rankings are grouped alongside defending champions South Africa and top ranked team Ireland in Pool B that also has Tonga and Romania.

Despite facing an uphill task, Jones said Scotland can take a lot of positive in the two warm-up games against France.

“It is a tough pool, and if people see us as underdogs we don’t mind that,” said centre Jones.

“We know how good we can be and a game like Saturday’s, against a side ranked second in the world, gives us a lot of confidence.

“We think we can beat anyone, it’s just about putting together a complete performance. We’re not fazed by the group, we’re really looking forward to it, but we know we need to be at our best to beat the top teams and get out of our pool.”

Gregor Townsend's men stunned France with a 25-21 victory at Murrayfield before were defeated by the Les Bleus with a slender 30-27 margin in the second warm-up game in Saint-Etienne.

“We weren’t really happy with our first-half performance at home to France but we were a lot better in the second half,” said Jones.

“Then in Saint-Etienne, against France’s strongest team, it was a more complete performance in terms of the full 80 minutes, although it’s still about those small margins for us.

“We feel like we’re there and thereabouts but there’s also stuff we can work on. I think Saturday will spur us on to improve even more.

“We always want to win but I think a narrow loss like that away to one of the top teams in the world is good for the confidence. We know we can go toe-to-toe with the best and we feel we can win those games."