Hogg's joy as Scots power past Italy

By Mark Stevens
20/3/21

Scotland captain Stuart Hogg was full of praise for his side as they bounced back from successive defeats in this season’s Guinness Six Nations Championship to record a record 52-10 win over Italy.

Despite falling behind early to captain Luca Bigi’s fifth-minute try, Scotland - who also included Hogg’s Exeter Chiefs team-mate, Sam Skinner, in their starting line-up - were dominant throughout, running in eight tries at BT Murrayfield.

Hooker David Cherry and winger Duhan van der Merwe both bagged two apiece, with Darcy Graham, Huw Jones, Scott Steele and Sam Johnson also crossing for Scotland.

A runners-up finish remains on the table for Gregor Townsend’s men as they head to Paris to face France next Friday.

“All week we talked about having a big reaction and showed a performance that represented us,” said Hogg, who successfully slotted six of his eight kicks.“At times we lacked that clinical edge and we didn’t score as many as we’d like to. The boys put in a hell of a performance and I’m chuffed to bits with the result.

“We’ve had a huge amount of confidence from the very beginning of the Six Nations but those little things have killed us.We’ve been in every single game. In the last couple of games, we have scored 24 points and come away with defeats.

“Today that was more like us. We threw the ball around and had some fun. Hopefully that gives us a big boost ahead of next week.”

Hogg was more involved than usual, as he bumped forwards from full-back to fly-half in the absence of Finn Russell.But the captain insists he will gladly step back when Russell is back fit.

He added: “I did enjoy it. I had lots of ball touches but I think I’ll leave that for Finn (Russell) and the rest of the boys from now on.”