Stuart Hogg is what you might call a regular try-scorer.

Which is not to say he is prolific - nine touchdowns in 29 Tests does not quite edge him into that category - but regularity is certainly his thing. Because when you glance back over his past dozen appearances for Scotland, a most remarkable pattern emerges.

In short, Hogg has scored a try in every second game he has played. It all began with his touchdown against France in last year's RBS 6 Nations, since when the alternating try/no-try rhythm has been maintained. So while last year's subsequent run of games brought further tries against the USA, Argentina (twice) and Tonga, he failed to get over the line against Wales (in fairness, that red card after 20 minutes did reduce his opportunities) Canada, South Africa and New Zealand.

This year, he has carried on where he left off at the end of 2014. He missed out against France, but then made up for it with a try against Wales. Which, when you think about it, is bad news for Scotland right now. If the sequence is to be maintained then Hogg is destined to draw a blank against Italy at BT Murrayfield on Saturday.

Yet while there might have been a time when Hogg would have been tempted to stay behind in the changing room if he thought he had no chance of getting a score, the full-back takes a rather more balanced view of what roles and responsibilities mean in an international team. Sure, he's never going to lose his enthusiasm for galloping across the whitewash, but the chastening experience of that sending-off in Cardiff last year appears to have turned him into a rather more mature individual.

So while the tyro teenager who broke into the Scotland side three years ago would probably have been punching the air over the last few yards of a scoring run, the 22-year-old of today has got his priorities right. Asked about what goes through his mind in such moments, Hogg did not hesitate in his reply. "Get the ball down as quick as you can," he smiled. "And safely."

So no acrobatic? No Ashtonesque dive over the line? "No, no," he said quickly. "I'd only end up dropping it."

In a way, however, Hogg's talent is not exemplified by how he finishes off his chances, but by how he sees them developing in the first place. The try he delivered against Wales almost two weeks ago looked easy when he touched down behind the Welsh posts, but its real brilliance was in the vision, and then the burst of pace, he showed when he received the ball behind his own 10m line and spotted that something was on.

That effort recalled his length-of-field effort against Italy two years ago, when he backed his judgement to intercept what would have been a scoring pass from fly-half Luciano Orquera to centre Tommaso Benvenuti then rocketed through half the Italian team for a try at the other end of the pitch. Forget about maintaining that pattern; he'll happily take another one of those this weekend.

Hogg relishes these moments of rugby opportunity. However hard you work on your drills in training, the best chances are usually the gifts your opponents provide. So long as you can spot them, that is.

"It is a big thing for us that we want to play off turnovers," he said of that recent try against Wales. "And it is a big thing with [defence coach] Matt Taylor that we seize opportunities and take advantage of turnovers. In times gone by, we would have been happy to take the penalty and kick to the corner."

It was a rare moment to find room against a Welsh team that is almost unmatched in the art of shutting down space. Italy, though, are a very different proposition. The Italians were rightly praised for their feat of scoring three tries against England recently. Hogg is rather more interested in the fact they also let six in.

Hogg said: I've done a fair bit of analysis and hopefully there will be a few more opportunities to attack this weekend. The Welsh had a very solid front line in defence that was quite tough to break down. The Italian defence is quite unstructured, although it's still good. If our attack is on point then space should open up anyway."