GOOD OF STU TO FRONT UP AFTER THAT COSTLY DROP
THE headlines will have made painful reading for Stuart Hogg yesterday after his costly howler in Dublin, but I thought he fronted up well afterwards and in fact he kept his concentration and cool during the remainder of the match itself. That sort of thing can crush you if you dwell on it too much. Who knows how these things happen? He’s not the first and he won’t be the last. World class strikers miss open goals, the world’s best fielders drop dollies, Open golf champions miss 15-inch putts, the world’s best goalkickers occasionally scuff one in front of the posts. It is probably something to do with it being so easy that the brain switches off before the task has been completed and the body therefore clocks off as well. If Hogg had needed to stretch for the line or if there had been a defender close enough to make a challenge he would have scored every time. Generally Scotland were much improved and they are well capable of beating England. We wait to see if Finn Russell is recalled to the squad but, even if he is, I wouldn’t necessarily start him at Murrayfield on Saturday. In Cardiff it wasn’t really enough of a contest to get excited, but you can’t help admire Josh Adams’ uncanny try scoring ability and enjoy the joy on Nick Tompkins’ face when he sprinted in for a try on debut. As for Italy, they have become a team almost without hope, further away from winning a Six Nations game than at any time since their last win, against Scotland five years ago.