HUW ARE YA?
Hogg: Superkid Jones is putting me in the shade for top player crown
STUART HOGG has laughed off claims he’s gone off the boil for Scotland – and reckons Huw Jones is just stealing his thunder.
The Lions full-back issued his verdict as he prepared for the Six Nations finale against basement boys Italy in Rome.
Glasgow Warriors ace Hogg has scooped Player of the Tournament in each of the last two campaigns – but 24-year-old Jones is this year’s leading Scottish contender.
And Hogg said: “Maybe I haven’t been making the breaks that everyone has become used to seeing.
“Some people think that means I’m having a stinker but I’m happy with the way I’m performing.
“I have been doing what I have to do in all the matches. I would love to be making all the clean breaks – but Huw seems to be stealing them off me!
“I’m not out to always make an absolute belter of a line-break, I’ve concentrated on doing the right thing for the team.
“That’s something I’ve learned over the last few years, there is a time and a place.
“Trying to keep the ball in play as much as I can is all well and good but the boys up front might be knackered so it’s sometimes about getting the carrot in front of the donkey with a clever kicking game. It’s about being mature.
“If I see an opportunity to attack then I’m going to take it. But if it’s not on then I’m experienced enough now to realise I just need to kick the leather off the ball and get it in front of our forwards.
“I need to keep these guys happy because if I get caught at the back, jeez – it can be nasty!”
Hogg and Co are desperate to slap down the Italians on their own turf on Saturday in the hope of clinching a top-three finish and they’ll be boosted by rattling up an average of 30 points in their last four encounters with the Azzurri.
Hogg said: “If we can execute everything and defend well, we’re going to be in a good place.
“If we don’t get our things right then we’re going to get beat – and that would be the worst thing that could possibly happen. We don’t want to finish off like that.”