Scotland in command as they sweep aside Georgia at Rugby Park

Stuart Hogg drives forward for Scotland against Georgia at Rugby Park.. the chance to run into the Lelos’ big men with ball in hand and the No. 8 was involved in everything, including a first- half tussle when he took on three Georgians single-handedly.

Georgia complained that staging this game at Rugby Park instead of BT Murrayfield was an insult to them but Vern Cotter paid them the compliment of picking his strongest available side to avoid a potential banana skin and ensure world ranking points.

And, as the afternoon progressed, this increasingly looked like a missed opportunity in terms of experimenting and increasing “fringe” players’ international experience.

Ali Price, the only uncapped member of the squad, finally got off the bench after warming it for the past two games but then he got just the last six minutes, though that was time enough to set up the last try for Hogg with a quick tap penalty.

One player who did impress was Georgia’s livewire scrum-half Vasil Lobhzhanidze.

The 20- year- old looked sharp, especially when scoring his first try yesterday when he sniped round the scrum, made Seymour look foolish and dodged Laidlaw’s despairing dive to give his side a fifth- minute lead that was, apart from a brief spell in the second half when he notched a second after his pack shoved Scotland over their own line, Georgia’s only flourish.

That said, he missed late try for Hogg that started with a quick tap penalty by debutant Price with Hughes making the distance up the left touchline despite being a man down with Moray Low in the bin for a scrum offence.

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