Character building
Hogg hails Warriors’ mettle in Italian win
STUART Hogg declared himself happy with his first start at standoff for glasgow but was more encouraged by the character shown by his team-mates in Italy.
The Warriors looked to be cruising to a guinness Pro12 win after responding to a secondminute try by Treviso wing Luca Sperandio with three of their own by Hogg, Tommy Seymour and Adam Ashe before the break and another, by Nick grigg, shortly after.
But the Scots slipped off the pace and found themselves hauled back to 28-28 going into the last five minutes thanks to two tries by Treviso’s Kiwi lock Dean Budd and the kicking of Tommy Allan and Ian McKinley.
Veteran Scotland wing Sean Lamont then rolled back the years with a fine break into the Treviso half, Seymour carved a path into the 22 and found Rory Clegg, with the replacement scoring a dramatic winning try.
For Hogg, it was a pleasing finish to a mixed game. ‘We made it tough for ourselves at times,’ he said. ‘We were looking good in our structures, and the second and third tries were good and came from playing to those structures.
‘But then, at times, we got out of them and handed them possession with mistakes, and almost every time they got a positive outcome from that.
‘Treviso are a good team and they’re getting better all the time but we have to look at ourselves. We were too keen at times, getting a bit flat and that led to knocking the ball on or mistakes at the breakdown.
‘It wasn’t perfect and we knew it wasn’t going to be perfect because Treviso were going for four wins in a row and they were fired up in front of their own crowd. We knew we’d have to fight hard for everything.
‘So I think it shows the character we have that when they levelled and you could think it isn’t going to be your day, we kept working for each other and got the reward with a lovely break by Sean and Tommy, and Rory finishing it off.’
Hogg had started the early fightback when he intercepted a grubber kick by Allan in the glasgow 22 and outran Italy wing Angelo Esposito over 80 metres. Along with five conversions, he was key to the win.
The Scotland star insisted that there was no plan to challenge Finn Russell for the No10 jersey long term — nor to show Lions coach Warren gatland his versatility ahead of the 2017 summer tour to New Zealand.
‘I felt it went all right,’ added Hogg. ‘It’s not my natural position, so it’s different but you’ve got to adapt and the communication from guys around me was outstanding.
‘I felt a wee bit rusty but I was happy to get a shot at No 10.’
‘I’m not thinking about that (Lions tour),’ he continued. ‘This was just about Treviso and getting an important win.
‘There’s only been one time I can remember where we’ve gone out to Italy and really put them away; it doesn’t happen often.’ TREVISO: Tries: Sperandio, Budd (2); Cons: Allan, McKinley; Pens: Allan (2), McKinley. GLASGOW: Tries: Hogg, Seymour, Ashe, Grigg, Clegg; Cons: Hogg (5).
MANU TUILAGI has been ruled out of England’s training camp in Brighton next week after a knee injury forced him to limp away from Leicester’s 16-12 defeat to Saracens yesterday.