Hogg left devastated as chances are blown

COTLAND’S chances of winning the Six Nations were dealt a terminal blow by France yesterday as the tournament favourites ran in six tries in their 36-17 victory at BT Murrayfield. It was the third game running in which the team had failed to perform at their best, and captain Stuart Hogg admitted it was a deeply frustrating position to be in.

“It is a horrible feeling, I’m not going to lie,” the full-back said. “Because we want to be in a position to give a true reflection of what we’re all about and at times we showed that but not enough.

“We talked about staying in every single moment of the game, and at times we did that to get in the right areas and look dangerous. But at other times we let it slip a little but too easily.

“We’ve spoken a lot in the changing room about what is needed going into the last two weeks of the Six Nations. The worst thing for me is having to wait another two weeks until we play again. I know I speak on behalf of the whole squad when I say we would love to play Italy tomorrow.”

Scotland were not helped by the fact that several key forwards were already out with injury even before Hamish Watson was ruled out on the eve of the match after testing positive for Covid. But head coach Gregor Townsend insisted he did not regard that as an excuse, pointing out that Rory Darge and Nick Haining, both of whom formed part of a reshuffled pack, were among his team’s best performers.

Townsend’s team now head to Italy a week on Saturday before finishing their campaign seven days later away to Ireland.