A RELIEVED Stuart Hogg handed the credit for salvaging Scotland's last-day effort in Rome to the forwards - even though his first try of the Six Nations campaign could not have been more timely.
Seventy-one minutes were on the clock at the Stadio Olimpico when the Scotland full-back plunged over the line from a Greig Laidlaw pass, maintaining a proud record of having scored a Six Nations try in every one of his seven campaigns, and when Laidlaw potted the conversion the Scots had regained the lead for the first time since the 14th minute.
There was still time for the advantage to change hands a couple of times before a game Italian side were eventually subdued but Hogg feels the players' character was never in question.
"There wasn’t a panic - at least not until they scored straight after half time!" said Hogg, who ended up with the jersey of his opposite number Matteo Minozzi. "Then there was a panic! No, with the character in this squad I knew we could come back fighting and as soon as we got that try off Sean Maitland I felt then that we were very much in control and we wanted to keep the game flowing as much as we could and the tries would come on the back of it. The forwards were outstanding. We finish off the tries but the boys up front do all the hard work and full credit to them."
After the final game of the Six Nations campaign, Scotland duty is put back on hold until June when Canada, USA and Argentina are the opponents for Scotland's summer tour. He may have spent last summer on a Lions tour to New Zealand but Hogg is desperate to be involved. “Last week was bitterly disappointing for us," he said. "We viewed that as our semi-final to give us an opportunity to win it this week but we came up short.
"We are in a good place. We are looking to get better individually and collectively and be in a position to play for trophies next season and I will be disappointed if I am not there [the summer tour]."
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