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'Well it's news to me that he's out for the Six Nations' - Townsend reacts to Hogg reports
Scotland coach Gregor Townsend is keeping his fingers crossed for good news as Stuart Hogg prepares to see a specialist about his injured shoulder.
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The Scottish star full-back was forced off just 17 minutes into Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations clash with Ireland following a collision with Peter O’Mahoney.
His absence for the rest of the Murrayfield clash proved a major blow for Townsend’s team as they struggled for firepower after the break, eventually slumping 22-13.
There were further worries for the Scotland faithful on Tuesday morning with reports claiming Hogg’s injury might now force him out of the final three fixtures with France, Wales and England and potentially his final six months with Glasgow before making a switch to Exeter this summer.
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But Townsend says he will wait to hear from a medical expert set to examine Hogg on Wednesday afternoon before making a final call on his participation in the rest of competition.
“Well it’s news to me that he’s out for the Six Nations as we’re still waiting to see how he recovers,” said Townsend. “He’s about to see a specialist later today (Wednesday) so we’ll know more about his chances of playing over the next few weeks after that.
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“I’m very hopeful that he’ll get good news and that he’ll be available to play some part in the Six Nations.”
16’ | SUB 🔁 Blair Kinghorn take to the field in place of full-back Stuart Hogg.
(🏴 3-5☘️) #SCOvIRE pic.twitter.com/8jwpzWLpow
— Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) February 9, 2019
If Hogg does fail to recover in time to feature, Townsend insists he is happy enough with his cover at 15.
The British and Irish Lion was replaced by Blair Kinghorn against last year’s Grand Slam winners.
The young Edinburgh back scored Scotland’s first ever Six Nations hat-trick from the left wing against Italy in their tournament opener, and Townsend said: “Blair obviously had a great game against Italy. He backed that up on his first touch as he got through the Ireland defence on Saturday and being heavily involved in the second half.
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“It was just a pity that we didn’t get that multi-phase game that we got in the first half that would have allowed someone like Blair to get on the ball more.
📸 Last week's hat-trick scorer Blair Kinghorn makes an impact off the bench as Scotland look to close the gap.
(🏴 3-12☘️) #SCOvIRE #AsOne pic.twitter.com/gsvAS4hxfI
— Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) February 9, 2019
“We’ve got good strength and depth in the back three. We’ve got Darcy Graham who has been playing really well for Edinburgh. Tommy Seymour and Sean Maitland have both played at full-back and are both very experienced players.
“I believe Byron McGuigan is back for his club this week, so if Stuart is missing – and I really hope that’s not the case – then we do have other players who have played international rugby and are in really good form.”
O’Mahoney’s off-the-ball tackle left Hogg clutching his shoulder in some discomfort but it was just as painful for the rest of his team as Ireland pounced on his lack of mobility to score a second try.
The Munster flanker faced no action from referee Romain Poite at the time and as yet has not been the subject of retrospective disciplinary proceedings, even though Townsend feels there is plainly a strong case to do so.
Speaking as his squad held an open training session in front of 2,000 fans in Clydebank, the head coach said: “It’s clearly a penalty and potentially worse because a player has tackled somebody without the ball and not used his arms to tackle. It was a late tackle as well.
“It’s really disappointing because it wasn’t checked. (The officials) could have gone back because it led to the try, so the TMO should have come in to check an incident that I’m sure the referee wasn’t 100 per cent clear on as it happened so quickly.
“It’s even more disappointing as we lost a player who would have covered the kick as well as the same player for the rest of the game through injury.”
Press Association Sport
Comments on RugbyPass
Billy's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
1 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
1 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
28 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
2 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
3 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
14 Go to commentsHi NIck, I have been very impressed with him and he seems a smart player who can see opportunities which Bobby V _(who must be an international 6_) doesn’t see or have the speed to take advantage of. If he continues to improve and puts on 5kgs then he could be a great 8. He is a bit taller than Keiran Reid at 1.93m and 111 kgs, so his skill set fits his body size and who knows where it will lead. I hope the spate of Achilles tendon issues have been dealt with by the S&C people. It’s been a very long time since Mark Loane and Kefu stood out at 8. The question is will we be able to hold onto him, if he does make it he will be pretty hot property. I disagree with the idea of letting them go to the Northern Hemisphere and then bring them back.
28 Go to commentsBilly Fulton 🤣🤣🤣🤣 garrrmon not even close
14 Go to comments