Hogg double not enough for Scotland
By Mark Stevens
13/11/21
Scotland captain Stuart Hogg was upset with his side’s error count as they fell to a 30-15 defeat to South Africa in the Autumn Nations Series at Murrayfield.
The hosts were 10-8 ahead at the break and when the Exeter Chiefs star crossed for his second try, which drew him level on 24 scores for Scotland with Tony Stanger and Ian Smith, victory looked possible.
South Africa also managed two tries, both through wing Makazole Mapimpi, but they kicked their way to victory on the back of a 15-9 penalty count in their favour.
Finn Russell missed several kicks he might have expected to do better with, but three penalties in the final 15 minutes took South Africa out of sight.
“I’m bitterly disappointed with the result,” Hogg said. “Especially in the first half, we felt we were in control of the game. The first 20 minutes we defended like our lives depended on it and kept them out and went down the other end of the field and scored three points. That was huge for us.
“We started very well defensively and unfortunately the second half didn’t quite go to plan. The boys are absolutely devastated about the result. The second half was far from where we needed to be and it cost us.
“You could say the Springboks were dominant, I would probably disagree. I would say we shot ourselves in the foot at times. We didn’t get to vital clear-outs, our set-piece didn’t function at times, we just didn’t control the game in the manner we would like to.”
Hogg - who was joined in the starting line-up by club-mate Sam Skinner - was in no mood to celebrate his personal achievement, adding: “It’s not about that. It’s about winning Test matches, it’s about being in a position to keep the momentum going as a national side. Maybe in a couple of hours I will calm down a bit, I will maybe think back on that, but my focus is to make sure we recover well and the boys are physically and mentally in a great place come Monday.”
Captain Hogg was able to find some positives from the defeat to the Springboks, however.
“We got into good positions, we wanted method in the madness and to move South Africa around, a game plan that they don’t want,” he said. “A game plan we do want is to keep high tempo and keep moving around and show off our individual talents.
“At times we didn’t quite reload quickly enough to be accurate. But there were a lot of good things, we played in the right areas, and on another day we keep that scoreboard ticking over. But at times we missed these vital clear-outs and that’s what killed us. We allowed South Africa to get into their game. They want to slow it down and kick to the corner and get their set-piece going. Unfortunately we gave them an avenue into the game at times. That’s not what we are about.”
Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend admitted the game had got away from his side late on.
“The first half the team performed so well with so little ball,” he said. “The second half was really disappointing. We gave them a really quick way into the game.