The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Coach keeping his fingers crossed for injured Hogg
SCOTLAND: Townsend not giving up on star full-back but he’s happy with cover
Scotland coach Gregor Townsend is keeping his fingers crossed for good news as Stuart Hogg prepares to see a specialist about his injured shoulder.
The Dark Blues’ star full-back was forced off 17 minutes into Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations clash with Ireland following a clash with Peter O’Mahoney.
His absence for the rest of the Murrayfield match proved a major blow for Townsend’s team as they struggled for firepower after the break, eventually slumping 22-13.
There were more worries for the Scotland faithful on Tuesday morning with reports claiming Hogg’s injury might now force him out of the final three fixtures with France, Wales and England and potentially his final six months with Glasgow before making a switch to Exeter this summer.
Townsend says he will wait to hear from a medical expert set to examine Hogg before making a final call on his participation in the rest of competition.
“Well it’s news to me that he’s out for the Six Nations as we’re still waiting to see how he recovers,” said Townsend. “He’s to see a specialist later so we’ll know more about his chances of playing over the next few weeks after that. I’m very hopeful he’ll get good news and he’ll be available to play some part in the Six Nations.”
If Hogg does fail to recover in time to feature, Townsend insists he is happy enough with his cover at 15.
The British and Irish Lion was replaced by Blair Kinghorn against last year’s Grand Slam winners. The Edinburgh back scored Scotland’s first-ever Six Nations hat-trick against Italy in their tournament opener, and Townsend said: “Blair obviously had a great game against Italy.
“He backed that up on his first touch as he got through the Ireland defence on Saturday and being heavily involved in the second half. It was just a pity that we didn’t get that multi-phase game we got in the first half that would have allowed someone like Blair to get on the ball more.
“We’ve got good strength and depth in the back three. We’ve got Darcy Graham who has been playing really well for Edinburgh. Tommy Seymour and Sean Maitland have both played at full-back and are very experienced.
“I believe Byron McGuigan is back for his club this week, so if Stuart is missing – and I really hope that’s not the case – then we do have other players who have played international rugby and are in really good form.”
O’Mahoney’s off-the-ball tackle left Hogg clutching his shoulder in discomfort but it was just as painful for the rest of his team as Ireland pounced on his lack of mobility to score a second try.
The Munster flanker faced no action from referee Romain Poite at the time and as yet has not been the subject of retrospective disciplinary proceedings, even though Townsend feels there’s a strong case to do so.
Speaking at an open training session in front of 2,000 fans in Clydebank, the head coach said: “It’s clearly a penalty and potentially worse because a player has tackled somebody without the ball and not used his arms.
“It was a late tackle as well. It’s really disappointing because it wasn’t checked.
“It led to the try, so the TMO should have come in to check an incident I’m sure the referee wasn’t 100% clear on as it happened so quickly.
“It’s even more disappointing as we lost a player who would have covered the kick, as well as the same player for the rest of the game through injury.”