Gutted Hogg admits Scots are in ‘must-win territory’

Full-back demands reaction – and three victories – in remaining pool games

Stuart Hogg says there are no more grey areas after Scotland’s capitulation in Yokohama: “we’re in must-win territory already”.

The full-back tried hard to generate some attacking flair against Ireland, but was unable to make much of an impact as the Scots tumbled to a 27-3 defeat.

“As good as Ireland are, we know we are better than that,” he said. “I’ve not been involved in a Scotland camp for a long, long time where we had prepared ourselves so well.

“We are absolutely gutted with the way it played out and the way we reacted. Now we’re in must-win territory already.

“Test match rugby is incredibly intense, more so when it’s at a World Cup. There is so much on the line and we know what we need to do now.

“We know we must win our next three games to ensure that we qualify. That is not going to be easy but that’s exactly what we must do.”

Hogg admitted he was “nowhere near good enough by my own standards”.

“I will look at my own performance first,” he said. “This game is gone, but we will look at it, analyse it and we’ll go back to the drawing board if we have to.

“Collectively we will then look at where we went wrong as a team. It is pointless saying we’re going to do this, that or whatever. We need a reaction and we need it fast.

“We’re downbeat, we’re annoyed and we’re frustrated at how we played, we will get an opportunity next week and we need to put it right. But we have to stop killing ourselves (with mistakes).

“All last week we spoke about not beating ourselves, but the first three Ireland tries all came from our mistakes.

“Whether it be a knock-on or a turnover – and I was turned over myself – Ireland were able to get their driving maul moving and it was difficult to stop.

“The first half especially we just did not contest and we know that’s not good enough.”

Ryan Wilson admitted head coach Gregor Townsend didn’t hold back after his team’s shocking start.

One of four captains in the most experienced side in terms of caps ever selected to play for Scotland, Wilson conceded that the dressing room afterwards heard some harsh truths.

“We got what we deserved in the changing room from Gregor,” said the No 8. “We are disappointed in ourselves. He can see that. He knows we did not do well enough out there.

“He is measured about it, he knows how disappointed we will be. The coaching staff feel the same way. We are the ones who get to go out and do the job on the field and it must be hard to watch.

“We know now we have to win every game. We were playing a good team in Ireland and they showed that tonight.

“We have to stay positive and we have a big test up next against Samoa who are a team we can play our brand of rugby against and we can come out on top.”

Wilson said he “had no theory” as to why Scotland didn’t start better having spent so much time and detail aiming to peak for this game.

“I think what went wrong is easy to fix,” he said. “Mistake after mistake and if you don’t exit well they’ve got you in a driving maul.

“They played with quick ball and they will thrive off that. It is something we did not deal with very well. It is up to us to get quick ball for ourselves, but again we were lacking in that.”

Stuart Hogg believes Ireland’s first three tries came from Scotland mistakes.