Hogg hails a new dawn after giving a masterclass in leadership
AMENDS made. Debt repaid. And a mad method of creating just this sort of opportunity for worldclass talent to shine.
Stuart Hogg enjoyed his moment of redemption in the Rome sunshine, all right. Savoured a victory in which he had played such a significant part.
On the back of two opening Six Nations defeats as captain, including the personal low-light of dropping the ball over the try line, the full-back produced a brilliant individual try to break this game wide open.
And he then challenged his players to make the 17-0 win over Italy not just a blip in another disappointing Championship — but the springboard for greater triumphs to come.
Describing the thrill of touching down — extremely carefully, it must be said — after a spectacular solo run, Hogg said: ‘It was very pleasing because it’s something we’ve worked on.
‘We talk a lot about creating counter-attack ball with our kicking. We managed to manipulate the Italian back three. They kicked loosely — and that’s when we come alive against an unstructured defence.
‘There is a lot of method in the madness and thankfully we managed to come up against an unstructured defence.
‘That’s when me and the other guys in the back three come alive. Thankfully, it paid off.
‘I’ve had a lot of chat over the last couple of weeks about that (the drop against Ireland) — and I wasn’t making a mess of that one.
‘I’m very happy. We’ve worked incredibly hard over the past couple of weeks to give ourselves every opportunity to win — and we’ve executed, in parts.
‘The exciting thing is we can get better. But we’ll enjoy that one. The great thing is we’ve kept the home side to zero points, so I’m very, very pleased with that final outcome.
‘I believed in the boys from the very beginning, that we could get wins in Test matches.
‘We hadn’t performed the way we wanted to in the first couple of games, just little bits and pieces.
‘But we can get better. This group is now hopefully on track. It’s a huge confidence boost and we will kick on now.
‘The challenge is to take it on to France. We’ll enjoy the win but we need to carry it on into the France game — and we’ll work very hard to do that.’
Hogg was left with his ears burning after deciding to go it alone instead of sending Sean Maitland over the try line in the second half.
A bristling Hogg said: ‘Yeah, you’ve picked up on the negative again. We got ourselves in a good position. I maybe should have given it to Sean.
‘But I backed myself to get through and, unfortunately in this case, it didn’t come.
‘But there were a lot of good things in that game. Maybe look at those before the negatives.
‘I believe in the boys. We believe in the structures we’ve been given to play.
‘There’s a hell of a lot of talent in there and we can execute. I’m proud of their efforts. Now we have a chance to kick on.’
Scotland’s ability to keep Italy from scoring was highlighted by the full-back, who praised new defence coach Steve Tandy for a dramatic turnaround — with only tries conceded in three games.
‘Steve has worked incredibly hard on our defence and we believe in his philosophies,’ said Hogg.
‘He brings enthusiasm to training every single day and his structures are unbelievable.
‘The boys are executing it very well. We don’t feel stressed with our structures at all — and we back our ability to defend.
‘To keep a side like Italy to zero points on their home ground is massive for us.’
Despite keeping a historically bad Italian side off the scoreboard, all in the Scotland camp accept that there is room for improvement.
Once again, chances to score were squandered, balls either dropped or sent the wrong way.
Hogg said: ‘I think we need to show more patience. The attack structure is there and we have players to get us into these positions.
‘At times, we just go a wee bit too early to try to score — and cough up the ball.
‘When we’re patient and go through the phases as we did with the Chris Harris try, that was us in control. We were calm, composed and came away with the five points.
‘That’s what we’re about. Now it’s about taking a huge amount of confidence from that into the France game.’
Having spoken before the game about how losing hurt more as captain than it did as just another player, Hogg admitted that the same added emotional heft applied to the winning experience.
‘It’s a lot easier to speak in a huddle after a victory,’ he said. ‘I said to the boys after the game that it wasn’t perfect — but nothing ever is perfect.
‘Our attitude was spot-on and the excitement can build, because we can get better.
‘I know I harp on about the same things. But this is just the beginning. We’re going to get better and better. And we’re going to enjoy doing it, as well.
‘We came here to do a job and we’ve done exactly that. I’m so proud of the boys.
‘Our boys had a huge challenge in terms of their back-row. We challenged our boys to stand up and you can see that with Hamish (Watson) getting man of the match, backed up by Jamie (Ritchie) and Maggie (Magnus Bradbury).’
The exciting thing is we can still get better. However, we’ll enjoy that one