Jones looking to get up to speed quickly

Rugby league convert Josh Jones is hoping to use a run of games at National League Two South club Taunton Titans to bring himself up to speed with the 15-man code.

The 22-year-old has swapped a flourishing career with Super League giants St Helens for a career in union, which he played until the start of his teenage years.

He has been re-familiarising himself with the 15-man code at Sandy Park this week, but will play a number of games for Taunton – who have Exe’s record league points scorer Tony Yapp as a coach – before having a go at breaking into the Chiefs’ first-team squad.

And the Leyland-born player is eager for an opportunity once he has mastered some of the nuances between the two codes.

“I’ve been getting straight into it. I had my first contact session on Tuesday and that went really well, so hopefully I’ll be getting my first games for one of the local clubs soon and hopefully we can go from there,” said Jones, who is expected to operate as a centre.

“I need to work on the floor work and the clear-outs – that is probably the main thing where I need to spend more time than the other boys.

“I haven’t done it for such a long time that I need to sit down and learn it a bit more. The centre position is quite similar to rugby league so that should help. I played quite a bit at school so the transition has been good. I’ll have a few games with Taunton and then if I am good enough to play with the Chiefs then so be it.”

Jones – a keen union fan – revealed that his move came about after watching the Chiefs play on television.

Hankering for a new challenge, Jones was impressed with the attacking style on display from the Devon side, so he set about making the move south happen at once.

“I just wanted a change. I had been at Saints for 10 years and I watch rugby union religiously anyway,” he said. “I was watching a game with the Chiefs in it and I really liked the way they played.

“It was very running-orientated and they didn’t kick the ball that often. They like to keep the ball in play and worked the ball through their hands to get their outside backs in the game.

“It has been like that in my first few days’ training as well so I am happy so far that I made the decision to come here.

“My agent has been great working with Rob (Baxter – head coach) and Ali (Hepher – backs coach) at the club and it has all worked really smoothly. I still have close ties with St Helens of course but I am looking forward to things.”