Rugbyunion: Rug Hogg predicts something pre special from spe Scotland.

Rugbyunion: Hogg says bring on Wallabies after super Scots test Kiwis

After coming so close to snatching what would have been a historic win against New Zealand, Stuart Hogg is targeting bigger and better things for Scotland.

The full back was brilliant throughout as Scotland fell agonisingly short of a first win against the All Blacks, losing 22-17 in an entertaining contest at Murrayfield.

A brilliant team try finished off by Beauden Barrett looked to have sealed another win for the tourists, but Huw Jones touched down before Hogg’s brilliant solo effort in the final seconds looked like it might snatch a dramatic, and hardly undeserved, win for Scotland.

As it was, Hogg was brought down by Barrett metres from the try line and knocked on.

But the promise of the performance was not lost on the Glasgow man, who believes Scotland are capable of special things.

“If we’re not going into every single game to win, then what’s the point being here?” said the man of the match.

“For us that’s long targets, but we take each game as it comes and concentrate on Australia and when the six nations comes around, we will concentrate on that.

“I truly believe that we’re in a position to achieve something special. If we’re not here to win, then there’s the door.”

Head coach Gregor Townsend has made a clear impact on the squad in the early stages of his tenure and will be looking for a second win against Australia, having won there in the summer.

Hogg is quietly confident that they have the makings of a special team.

He added: “The challenge now is to back that up and hopefully come away with the right result against Australia.

“It’s going to be a huge challenge for us but this is why you play rugby. You want to play against the best.

“We came up just short against the best team in the

“Hugely gutted. We were on brink of something special”

world for however many years and now we play the Aussies and they’re just as good.”

But despite the fine performance and running the back-to-back world champions so close, Hogg was still deflated by the nature of the defeat. Scotland have never beaten the All Blacks and Hogg said: “Hugely gutted. We were on the brink of something special, weren’t we?

“The boys are devastated. We got ourselves in with a good opportunity of scoring some tries, but probably left a couple out there.

“But we can take a huge amount of confidence going forward.”