Hogg hoping to put ineffective bow behind him

Scotland back-row forward Allister Hogg is looking to put the lingering disappointment of his RBS 6 Nations debut against Wales in Cardiff last year behind him when he faces up to the Welsh once again.

The Edinburgh man pulled on the dark blue jersey for the first time last February but failed to make an impact as the struggling Scots went down 23-10 on their way to their first championship whitewash in 19 years.

Hogg is now an established member of Matt Williams’ side with 15 caps but the 22-year-old is hoping to redeem himself against Wales on his home ground.

He said: “It was a day that I will never forget, it was my first cap and there was a great atmosphere but hopefully it will be a better game on Sunday.

“It was probably my poorest game for Scotland. I did not do anything right, I did not do anything wrong, it was just one of those games that seemed to pass me by.

“They had a really good go at us, they threw the ball wide and I did not get into the game.

“They played really well last year but now they have got consistency into their game and it showed in the autumn as well as in the Six Nations so far. But I am looking forward to it.”

Despite beating Italy in their last match at Murrayfield, Scotland came in for some criticism for their performance but Hogg insists winning is all that counts.

He said: “It was not very exciting but we won and I would settle for the same again.

“The fans might not have been cheering during the game but they were cheering at the end when we won.

“A win is a win at the moment and we will certainly take them any way we can.

“I think it is in the Scottish mentality that we always seem to play well against the big sides and just lose.

“It would be a nice change to play really well and just win and certainly Wales are a top side at the moment, they are playing really good rugby.”

However, after beating England, Italy and France, the resurgent Welsh are on course for the Grand Slam and are expected to take care of Scotland easily before they end their championship campaign with a match against Ireland.

But Hogg denies complacency could be the visitors’ biggest enemy.

He said: “I would not imagine there will be any complacency in their camp. Their coach will be drumming it into them that it is one game at a time and it is away from home and how we could maybe pull out a performance and beat them.

“But they have great character and team spirit, they did well to come back from 15 points behind in Paris so it shows you that they can dig deep and pull out performances.”