"Take care," came the message from those who felt too much hope was being invested in one so young in the early part of this season.

They continued to say so after Stuart Hogg's extraordinary score for Scotland A in the rout of England Saxons on the eve of the RBS 6 Nations championship, which revived memories of the likes of David Duckham and Andy Irvine splitting defences in the seventies but is rarely seen in the professional game.

Still they persisted after, in the course of becoming the first teenager to play for Scotland, albeit in a 20-minute cameo, Hogg produced a piece of juggling so skilled that it confused the officials, who subsequently had to apologise for failing to reward him with a debut try.

Then, upon becoming the first teenager to start a Scotland Test since his mentor and fellow Hawick man Jim Renwick, he took just eight minutes to do something that had eluded Chris Paterson in the last four years of his career – scoring a try while wearing Scotland's No.15 jersey. Even after all that we were urged not to expect too much, too soon.

After Saturday's performance in Cork, however, surely even the most cautious can accept that Hogg's inexperience is irrelevant – because this is a very special talent.

He had suffered in the first half from his forwards' failure to take the challenge to Munster as Sean Lineen, Glasgow's head coach, noted when saying that he and Alex Dunbar had been given too much to do in midfield because of the ease with which the Irishmen were getting to them.

Harsh words were apparently exchanged at the interval and the youngest man afield took it into his own hands to address the situation.

"Al [Kellock, their captain] said at half-time we need something to spark it up and I tried my hardest to do that," he said.

"It seemed to work for a little bit - "

Oh how it worked. Glasgow had seemed out of it when turning to face the wind 18-6 down thanks to tries from Luke O'Dea and Peter O'Mahony, and eight points from the boot of Ian Keatley, as opposed to six from Ruaridh Jackson's.

But Hogg's injection of pace to produce his first try, and the interchange with Colin Shaw that generated the second, were exquisite scores that almost turned the match Glasgow's way. No-one else in Scottish rugby, and few in the world game, can open up defences as Hogg can but, in keeping with the team ethos that had relied upon so much more than individual brilliance to get them where they are this season, he noted the contributions of others.

"It's great to play professional rugby and even to score a try, so to get a hat-trick was very special, but it wasn't all me. It was great work from Shawsy for the second try and the third was down to Fozzy [Calum Forrester] kicking it through. I was just happy enough to be on the end of the try. However, it comes down to results and it was a result we didn't get," he noted.

"Munster's a great team. You can't let them get into the game too early. In the first half we sat off them, let them play their own game and that's where they're strong.

"But at half-time we got that kick up the arse from Sean, the coaching staff and Al, and that was maybe what we needed.

"It's beginning to get frustrating. It's the same at training, we start pretty slowly, but as soon as we get that kick up the backside we start firing. It's bitterly disappointing because they were there for the taking and if we'd started the first half like we did the second it could have been a totally different game."

This was a very different Glasgow from the team that tore into Aironi and Cardiff Blues in their previous two matches.

Outscoring Munster 23-17 in the second half – in which Keatley registered four more penalties and Conor Murray scored what proved the winning try – was, in its own way, impressive in such circumstances.

Hogg's hat-trick try, registered deep in injury time, was ultimately his most vital, since it meant Dunky Weir's conversion brought the bonus point which keeps Glasgow in the top four, while it also proved that he can score them ugly.

"You don't get any extra points for how they look," he laughed.

"A try's a try, but as soon as I got the second I was trying to get myself into things as much as possible to get my third, and fortunately it came my way."

Perversely, it actually produced more than the others, since Jackson had been unable to convert the first two from wide on the left. Weir's was an easier kick, but it also speaks to the confidence Glasgow have in one another that Hogg had no hesitation in reminding his fellow youngster what was at stake.

"I said to Dunky 'Take your time, there's a bonus point on the line here,' and he said 'Thanks for the pressure,' but Dunky just kicks them in his stride and a bonus point after that scrappy, scrappy first half - we have to be happy enough with that," said the 19-year-old.

They draw strength and inspiration from one another these lads, and they know they are old enough to cope with what confronts them because they know they are good enough.