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Stuart Hogg challenges Scotland to play biggest game of their lives
By Online Editors
Stuart Hogg says Scotland must be ready to play their biggest game of their lives as they bid to reach the last eight of the World Cup.
Gregor Townsend’s team are due to take on Japan in Yokohama on Sunday and a win of at least eight points will take them through to quarter-finals.
Typhoon Hagibis could yet throw a spanner in the works and blow the Dark Blues out of the tournament if World Rugby deems the match is not safe to play and rule it a draw.
But Hogg is preparing as if the match will kick-off as planned at the 70,000-seater International Stadium and wants his side to grasp the enormity of the occasion.
“I think making it to the quarters would definitely be up there with the biggest things I’ve done so far,” declared Scotland’s star fullback.
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“We’ve been in since the start of June working incredibly hard to get to where we want to be and come Sunday we’ve got a chance to let loose and get to a quarter-final.
“For myself and a lot of the boys this could be the biggest game of our careers and one we’re very much looking forward to getting stuck into.
“It’s a huge test match for us but the majority of the squad have played in big games. There are a lot of boys with experience.
“It’s going to be a hell of a ding-dong battle.”
Scotland got off to a dismal start as they slumped to Ireland in their Pool A opener.
But this weekend they return to the same venue that pasting from Joe Schmidt’s men took place in having claimed back-to-back bonus point wins without conceding a single score against Samoa and Russia.
Now Hogg has urged his side to maintain their recent standards and not slip back to the sloppy ways that hurt them last time out in Yokohama.
“For us as professional players we have to be on the money at every single opportunity,” said the British and Irish Lion. “We made it difficult with the way we started this tournament.
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Latest Comments
That 2019 performance was literally the peak in attacking rugby under Eddie. If you thought that was underwhelming, the rest of it was garbage.
I totally get what you're saying and England don't need or have any God given right to the best coaches in the world... But I actually think the coaches we do have are quite poor and for the richest union in the world, that's not good enough.
England are competitive for sure but with the talent pool up here and the funds available, we should be in the top 3. At the very least we should be winning six nations titles on a semi-regular basis. If Ireland can, England definitely should.
England's attack coach (Richard Wigglesworth) is Borthwick's mate from his playing days at Saracens, who he brought to Leicester with him when he became coach. Wigglesworth was a 9 who had no running or passing game, but was the best box kicker in the business. He has no credentials to be an attack coach and I've seen nothing to prove otherwise. Aside from Marcus Smith’s individual brilliance, our collective attack has looked very uninspiring.
England's defence coach (Joe El-Abd) is Borthwick's housemate from uni, who has never been employed as a defence coach before. He's doing the job part time while he's still the head coach of a team in the second division of French rugby who have an awful defensive record. England's defence has gone from being brutally efficient under Felix Jones to as leaky as a colander almost overnight.
If Borthwick brings in a new attack and defence coach then I'll absolutely get behind him but his current coaches seem to be the product of nepotism. He's brought in people he's comfortable with because he lacks confidence as an international head coach and they aren't good enough for international rugby.
England are competitive because they do some things really well, mostly they front up physically, make a lot of big hits, have a solid kicking game, a good lineout, good maul, Marcus Smith and some solid forwards. A lot of what we do well I would ascribe to Borthwick personally. I don't think he's a bad coach, I think he lacks imagination and is overly risk averse. He needs coaches who will bring a point of difference.
I guess my point is, yes England are competitive, but we’re not aiming for competitive and I honestly don't believe this coaching setup has what it takes to make us any better than competitive.
On the plus side it looks like we have an amazing crop of young players coming through. Some of them who won the u20 world cup played for England A against Australia A on the weekend and looked incredible... Check out the highlights on youtube.
Go to commentsHe’s not got back his form and fitness back after his Achilles' injury. Scrum has been okay, if he can get his fitness back you imagine winning some matches could turn his game around. Tahs will have no excuses next year with their playing and coaching roster. He’s struggled in 24, let’s hope 25 is his year.
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