HOGG HAS A HANDLE ON DUBLIN WOE

Blair is delighted to see captain smiling again after Ireland blunder

THE sight of Stuart Hogg ripping through the Gloucester lines to score a wonder try for Exeter would have been celebrated by everyone with an interest in Scottish rugby.

But what really pleased Scotland assistant coach Mike Blair wasn’t just the brilliance of the full-back’s give-and-go.

The fact that Hogg was happy to make fun of his famous fumble against Ireland on the opening weekend of the Six Nations, hugging the ball close to his chest before safely grounding it at Kingsholm on Saturday, told him that the skipper was definitely back to his old self.

‘You saw him get that score for Exeter at Gloucester at the weekend, a big smile on his face as he put it down with two hands,’ said a grinning Blair.

‘Hoggy’s good at that, making fun of himself. He made an error but that won’t happen again.’

As well as dropping the ball over the try line in Dublin, Hogg also blamed himself for mis-handling a wet ball to concede the scrum-five that set England en route to victory at Murrayfield a week later.

Blair didn’t see that as quite such a clear-cut case, saying: ‘I know there have been a couple of incidents. A lot has been made of the one against England, as well. But I genuinely can’t see what he could have done.

‘He was waiting for the ball to come, it didn’t go over the line and it ends up being a five-metre scrum from which they score.

‘It was really clever play from England in the conditions. Some of it we didn’t deal with perfectly but I don’t think there was much he could have done there in that scenario.’

Under enormous pressure to get a result in Rome this weekend, Scotland cannot afford to make even minor mistakes against an Italy side who looked worryingly competent in their narrow loss to France in Paris.

Among coaches, heart is being taken from the fact that the Scots have improved — they could hardly do much else — on the sluggish starts that caused so much self-inflicted damage at last year’s Rugby World Cup.

Yet it is also clear that the pay-off for a more measured opening stage of play is reining in some of the instincts that can make Scotland so exciting. ‘We’ve held on to the ball more,’ said Blair. ‘The Ireland game, we held on to the ball for a good two or three minutes, got a penalty and put ourselves ahead.

‘The England game, we had a good kick-off, put them under lots of pressure. So sometimes things just lean towards you a little bit.

‘But we have talked about faster starts a lot, as we did when things weren’t going that well.

‘There seems to be a good composure about the group, perhaps holding on to the ball a little bit more — not trying the offloads — or being a bit more structured early in the game.

‘That seemed to work for us in the last couple of weeks. There are always conversations about how to do better. Ultimately, the players will take responsibility for how they’ve reacted.

‘They’re the ones dealing with the game situations, making the decisions on the ball.

‘I hope that continues because good starts really lift the spirits and confidence going forward.’

Asked if this meant a more conservative, less expansive opening 20 minutes in every game, Blair said: ‘Yeah, possibly … but it’s decisions within it.

‘The shape hasn’t changed that much. But decisions within the shape have meant we’ve been able to build phases.

‘It’s not been perfect. Against England, we had a good couple of minutes or so and then let England

get back on top of us. So it’s nowhere near the finished article in terms of starting the game. But there has been some good stuff and we want to build on that — it’s going to be really important against Italy.’

Adam Hastings, thrust into the role of stand-off in the absence of Finn Russell, is being talked up by coaches for his role in these more settled starts. Control is key, with the Glasgow player at No10.

‘Adam’s decision-making has been excellent,’ said Blair. ‘Particularly at the start of the Ireland game, taking simple options, playing through and holding on to ball. It’s gone well.

‘There are parts of his game that he still needs to improve. He’s a young player and the more games he plays at this level, the more he’ll understand about when to pass, when to kick. But we’ve been really impressed with what he’s done.

‘One of the first things we said (this week) was about that first 20 minutes, how we handle the opposition — and making sure we are still in the game going into that last ten or 20 minutes.

‘And we feel we’ve done that in the two games. But now it’s about getting over that line and taking the next step.

‘It’s a case of winning the game rather than saying we’ve done well in that first 50, 60, 70 minutes.’