“It’s been a good week’s training, and it’s nice to be back,” said the former Scotland Under-21s and England Under-19s player, who made 17 Magners League and four Heineken Cup appearances for Borders last season.

“I enjoyed my time here in the academy under John Fletcher, and with him now as director of rugby when the chance came about to come back to the club I was determined to take it with both hands.”

Jones also has another familiar face on the coaching staff with former Borders director of rugby Steve Bates now back with the Falcons, stating: “Batesy is someone I have a huge amount of respect for, so being back at Newcastle and working with him and John Fletcher is a great situation to be in.

“A lot of the players I worked with in the academy are now in the first team here, so I’m looking forward to being part of the squad and contributing where I can.”

As part of a squad containing England fly halves Jonny Wilkinson and Toby Flood, Jones insisted he was not daunted by the task in hand, saying: “I know I’ll have to fight hard for a place, but it’s an exciting position to be in working with guys like that every day.

“With the World Cup at the start of the season it may well be that an opportunity comes my way during that time, but there are a lot of other quality players in the squad and I can’t take anything for granted.”

Asked his preferred position, Jones said: “I’ve played most of my senior level rugby at fly half with Borders, but fullback is a position I enjoy a lot and I’ve also played in the centres.

“The quality in the Newcastle is so good that you have great players like Matt Burke at fullback and Jamie Noon, Mat Tait, Mark Mayerhofler and Toby Flood in the centres to name just a few, but being part of that group and learning every day is a tremendous challenge and something that any player would look forward to.”