Scotland skipper left to rue lost opportunity
Scotland skipper Stuart Hogg has never been one to hide from the harsh realities either on or off the rugby pitch, writes ALAN SHAW.
His side was soundly beaten by France yesterday and, as is becoming worryingly familiar from the Scots, they had a hand in their own demise.
Hogg admitted: “France were very good. We coughed up possession and were in unstructured defence which allowed them to get huge momentum, and to be fair when they get on the front foot they’re one of the world’s best at finishing off opportunities.
“We knew fine well coming into the game that mistakes would happen But it’s how we bounce back and react, and unfortunately at times they got the bounce of the ball.
“They were very, very strong but I don’t focus on what’s in front of us, I focus on ourselves and how we can get better, how we can improve.
“I watch a large majority of the game from in behind and I can see where we need to be stronger at times. But, for us today, it was bitterly disappointing that we couldn’t quite get dominant collisions and stop them on the gain line.
“We made it quite difficult for ourselves but France were very, very clinical when they had ball in hand.”
Scotland could have scored and gone ahead just before halftime but Chris Harris elected to fling a hero miss-pass instead of shuttling the ball through the hands to Hogg, who looked certain to score.
Asked if that was a swing moment, the skipper replied: “Yeah, I think it was.
“I’m bitterly disappointed with how that ended. I’d loved to have caught that and scored because I felt at that time that the momentum was right behind us.
“We’ve then gone penalty, penalty and they’ve scored from an easy field position that we’ve gifted them.
“We talk a lot about compounding errors and on the back of that we gave away a couple of penalties and France have that clinical edge and finished off in the corner.”