Horne beats Hastings to No 10 jersey
Hogg backing Scots to take revenge for disallowed ‘try’
France will be shell-shocked after the start they have made
THE noise is what Ally Hogg recalls most clearly. The deafening, demented, whistling and the cacophonous cat-calls of fans driven mad with frustration.
It was music to his Scottish ears. And, 14 years on, he’d love nothing better than to hear Gregor Townsend’s men create the same kind of uproar at a venue where the soundtrack remains an accurate indicator of the home team’s performance.
Hogg, almost a year retired and enjoying his new job in wealth management, achieved plenty in a playing career that saw him capped 48 times for his country. However, in conversation with
Sportsmail, he admits that one particular moment is always going to crop up. Especially at this time of year.
Back in early February of 2005, the back-row forward should have scored a famous try for Scotland at the Stade de France. No, scratch that. Hogg DID score a famous try that day. Only to be denied by a hallucinating touch judge.
Instead of winning a game they had led 9-0 at one stage, as they surely would have done had that score stood, the Scots were left cursing the injustice of it all — and ended up losing 16-9 thanks to a late charge-down try by Damien Traille.
Anyone who was there will remember head coach Matt Williams still being puce with rage an hour and more after full-time, the always-quotable, never-entirely-convincing Aussie blasting touch judge Simon McDowell and saying of the ‘score’: ‘I’ve seen enough replays already to remember it when I’m 85.’
In all of Scotland’s visits to Paris since their most recent victory in 1999, they’ve arguably never come closer than they did on that attritional Saturday in St Denis.
Hogg, taking up the tale, recalled: ‘France were the Six Nations champions at the time, a really good team, so nobody really fancied us to get anything.
‘I’d won my first cap the year before, Matt Williams was in charge and we weren’t having a great time of it, unfortunately. Yet we played very well and, of course, victory was so close. But so far.
‘Going in at half-time, I had never heard an atmosphere like it. The home fans were whistling and booing, jeering — it was deafening. I think we were 6-0 ahead at that stage, which nobody expected. It was amazing how the home crowd turned on their team.’
Scotland were indeed shutting out the French at half-time, thanks to a pair of Chris Paterson penalties. A third early in the second half made it 9-0 to the Scots, who were driving their hosts to distraction.
If you remember how shambolic Scotland were for most games under Williams, it still seems remarkable that his players were so close to beating the French.
But they were. And they should have gone eight points clear when Hogg touched down.
The French only dragged it back to 9-9 two minutes from the end of time and, by the official clock, they were four minutes beyond the 80 when — with Jon Petrie in the sin bin — replacement lock Gregory Lamboley charged down a Hugo Southwell clearance for Traille to score.
Hogg, understandably, remains convinced that victory was unfairly snatched from the grasp of him and his team-mates.
Addressing the try that should have been, he said: ‘I remember getting the ball from Simon Danielli and getting my head down. The wee winger, Christophe Dominici I think, came at me but I managed to fend him off.
‘I didn’t think I was anywhere near the touchline. I was just flying up for the line — scored and started to celebrate. It was only when I looked back that I saw something was wrong.
‘I was so disappointed because, apart from anything else, that would have won us the game, I’m convinced of that. A try for us, when we were 9-6 up would have sealed it. But they got a drop goal, then Hugo had a kick charged down and they got their try.
‘I don’t think about it often — but it comes up every now and again, particularly in quizzes.
‘I could have been the guy who got us our first win since ’99. But instead I still get stick from my mates as a lot of them had money on me to be first try scorer.’
It’s been 20 years since Scotland beat France in Paris. At times our boys have given good shows … on other occasions they’ve been blown out of the water.
Hogg is optimistic about this game, considering the respective starts made by each side. He said: ‘We have a good record against France at home, comparatively, but we’ve not really come close very often in Paris.
‘I know we’re missing a few boys but I still think Scotland have a good chance. I believe this is the right time to get France — they’ll still be shell-shocked after the start they’ve made.
‘I mean, they played well for 40 minutes against Wales but threw it away. And then they were destroyed by England, although the English looked very good.
‘So this is a great opportunity to get on top of France, to get those boos and whistles going. If the boys can just keep edging ahead, they can get the French support turned. And then hopefully get a bit of the luck we didn’t get.’
Icy whistles and Gallic-accented jeers not just at half-time but full-time? Now that would be sweet, sweet music to all Scots.