THERE is nothing like the experience of victory to turn you into a consistent winner.
The buzz, the euphoria, the camaraderie celebrating with your friends are all things any sane human is desperate to repeat, and repeat again. Which is one reason Stuart Hogg, the Glasgow Warriors full back, is feeling good about Scotland's preparations for the Rugby World Cup.
For the first time, the squad has assembled with confidence at a high and that winning mentality to the fore with Glasgow providing the biggest contingent after winning the Guinness PRO12; Saracens, the English champions, also providing a few; and even Edinburgh, who finished well down the league, feeling good about themselves after reaching the European Challenge Cup final.
"The fact that the boys are wining trophies and being in a great position to win trophies is perfect for us," maintains Hogg. "The main thing is that we continue to gel. The fact that we have experience of lifting trophies and the feeling you get form that is exactly what very everyone wants.
"The Six Nations is not out of the system, because we have to learn from that and will continue to do that. We started it really well, with a couple of cracking performances, but towards the end tapered off. The main thing is that we learn from that and continue to improve. We have a few weeks to go and all we can ask is that we get better individually and collectively. The belief will always be there, we have a great group of boys who will work, for each other."
Hogg is one of the more effervescent characters in the Scotland squad, but admits that a few days after his 23rd birthday and still very much among the junior section age-wise he is struggling a bit with the idea that he is now one of the more experienced players in the squad and one who others look to for leadership.
"I have a fair bit of experience now and will just try to bring on the young boys, be as much of a leader as I possibly can," he said. "The boys are young and full of enthusiasm, they want to learn and be in a position to get selected but I do very little talking, I prefer to get on with my job and if I am doing mine then that is all I can ask.
"We are all in the position of pushing to get into the final 31-man squad so we are all pushing incredibly hard in training, working incredibly hard and pushing each other on. There is nobody safe with a position guaranteed so you have always got competition and want to better that. You work incredibly hard in training and try to improve on that day on day.
"Here's hoping we can have as few good warm-up games and come Japan [the opening opponents in the World Cup] we are ready to rock and roll. That is our goal, we have not looked further than the first game."
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