Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
NZ NZ

Stuart Hogg prepared to step in at 10 for Scotland

By PA
(Photo by Francois Nel/World Rugby via Getty Images)

Scotland captain Stuart Hogg has hailed his players after they banished an “unacceptable” away record against Wales.

ADVERTISEMENT

Hogg kicked a late penalty as Scotland triumphed 14-10 in Llanelli to end their 2020 Guinness Six Nations campaign with three successive victories.

It was a first win on Welsh soil since 2002 and put Scotland on the front foot heading into an Autumn Nations Cup campaign that features appointments with Italy, France and Fiji, plus a play-off fixture.

Video Spacer

WATCH: Stuart Hogg’s side business…

Video Spacer

WATCH: Stuart Hogg’s side business…

“It means everything to us,” Exeter star Hogg said. “We work incredibly hard to be in a position to win Test matches.

“It is 18 years since we last won in Wales, and for us that was an unacceptable record, so we wanted to do everything we possibly could to change that.

“I believed in the boys right from the first minute that we were going to win. We felt we were in a good place going into the game, and we are chuffed to bits.

“The challenge now is to keep it going. It’s about belief. We have got game-drivers, defensively we stuck at it and we are believing in each other.

ADVERTISEMENT

“We know we are not the finished article, but we are a step closer to where we want to be.

“The character within the squad is massive. The big word for us is ‘belief’. We went out there, we expressed ourselves, we created highlight moments and chased highlight moments, we stuck to our structures.”

Scotland did not leave west Wales injury-free, though, with fly-halves Finn Russell and Adam Hastings both going off a fortnight before the Nations Cup opener against Italy.

Russell, making his first Test start since last year’s World Cup, suffered a groin problem, while replacement Hastings dislocated his shoulder.

Hogg moved from full-back to fill the number 10 role following Hastings’ second-half departure, and it remains to be seen whether or not Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend could view that as an option if Russell and Hastings are Nations Cup absentees.

ADVERTISEMENT

“We’ve got other boys who will be in the 10 jersey before myself, but at the end of the day, I will do whatever is best for the team,” Hogg added.

“All I want to do is to be here and make a difference for Scotland, and if it comes to that I will just get on with it.

“If not, I will fully back up whoever is going to be in that jersey. Duncan Weir has been playing really well over the last few weeks, so it is probably a perfect shot for him to get his chance.”

Reflecting on Scotland’s triumph at Parc y Scarlets, Townsend said: “Stuart captained the team throughout the Six Nations and we’ve had chances to win every game. We’ve been in the fight every game.

“It was a big step forward for our pack. We are a relatively young pack with guys like Zander (Fagerson), Scott Cummings and Jamie Ritchie, and they really stepped up. The lineout performance in the second half was outstanding.

“(Scrum-half) Ali Price was very good in that last 10 minutes. He had two excellent kicks and took control of the game, as we were on to our third fly-half at that time.

“We could have been more expansive, but it was rugby that was putting pressure on the opposition.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Join free

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | Episode 6

Sam Warburton | The Big Jim Show | Full Episode

Japan Rugby League One | Sungoliath v Eagles | Full Match Replay

Japan Rugby League One | Spears v Wild Knights | Full Match Replay

Boks Office | Episode 10 | Six Nations Final Round Review

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | How can New Zealand rugby beat this Ireland team

Beyond 80 | Episode 5

Rugby Europe Men's Championship Final | Georgia v Portugal | Full Match Replay

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
Jon 7 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

35 Go to comments
j
john 9 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

37 Go to comments
A
Adrian 11 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

37 Go to comments
FEATURE
FEATURE Luke Cowan-Dickie: 'I didn’t feel right. I felt like I was going to pass out. Everything was going black in front of me' Luke Cowan-Dickie: 'I didn’t feel right. I felt like I was going to pass out. Everything was going black in front of me'
Search