Hogging the glory
Stu ends series as record breaker
Stuart Hogg joked his pals had to remind to put the ball down after he crossed the line to become Scotland’s all-time leading try scorer. The full-back took his tally to 25 as Gregor Townsend’s side ended their Autumn
Nations Series with a Murrayfield success. That puts the 29-year-old one clear of Grand Slam legends Ian Smith and Tony Stanger.
Hogg said: “I loved it. And I loved then being told by Ali Price and Hamish Watson to put the ball down before I celebrate!
“You can see in my reaction how much it meant but the main thing is we got a good win. We’ll take it and move on.”
It may have been pleasing to gain revenge after defeat to Japan at the 2019 World Cup but Hogg and Co didn’t play with the flow they had hoped for.
With three wins and only one defeat in this series, though, they feel things are moving in the right direction.
Hogg said: “It was our last opportunity together for a couple of months.
“We wanted to put in a performance we’re proud of and at times we were very clinical, we were good defensively.
“We’re yet to find the compete 80minute performance but that was because we were put under a lot of pressure by Japan.
“They managed to hold on to the ball for large periods and the ref was favouring the attacking side. We just had to take our medicine and be clinical when we got an opportunity.”
Scotland snatched a third-minute
David Barnes lead when winger Duhan van der Merwe muscled over for his ninth try on his 15th appearance.
It was a promising start but indiscipline – especially in the tackle area where Scotland were too slow to roll away – handed Japan the lead. Stand-off Rikiya Matsuda kicked two penalties before missing another shot at goal from wide on the right.
Ref Brendon Pickerill spoke to Hogg about the number of infringements and warned a yellow card may follow.
Finally, in the 26th minute, Scotland came back to life. Hogg ran a Japanese clearance back with pace and purpose, initiating a move he finished a few phases later after his rivals were pulled out of shape with sharp phases.
Townsend said: “There was a nice article in the programme by Tony, who shared that record that lasted almost 100 years. It’s brilliant our captain was able to break it.”
And yet his troops couldn’t shake off the Japanese, who were holding on to the ball well without threatening.
But they did finish the half with a flourish when Finn Russell’s arcing run saw a superb pass out to Darcy Graham.
The little winger still had work to do but made it look easy as he skipped inside his tackler and scurried over.
Scotland slipped into the habits of the first half when the game restarted and Jamie Bhatti went to the sin-bin.
Matsuda kicked the three easy points on offer, then three more after an offside to make it 19-12.
McInally burrowed in for try No.4 inside 30 second of coming on and Russell saw Scotland home the other side of Tevita Tatafu’s touchdown and Matsuda’s fifth penalty.