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Hogg: I’m living the dream

Hogg: I’m living the dream

Stuart Hogg says he’s living the dream after becoming Scotland’s record try scorer in their 29-20 victory against Japan.

Hogg dotted down for a 25th time just a week after equalling the record, previously shared by Ian Smith and Tony Stanger.

His was the second of four Scotland tries, as they signed off their Autumn Nations Series campaign in style by bagging a third win from four games.

Now their attention turns to the 2022 Guinness Six Nations and Hogg can’t wait to get back on the field after reaching a special milestone.

“There’s no better feeling than playing for Scotland,” he said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“It’s what I’ve wanted to do since I was a young kid and I’m still living the dream. Being part of this group is something really special.

“I loved it, to then be told by Ali Price and Hamish Watson to put the ball down and celebrate. You can see in my reaction how much it meant to me.”

Scotland started well and led early through a Duhan van der Merwe try but Japan stuck at it and led 6-5 until Hogg’s magic moment.

The full-back started the move and was on hand to finish it a few phases later by side-stepping the last defender.

“We had not had much ball in the first half, I think we had 17 phases of defence before we had a turnover and we took it,” said head coach Gregor Townsend.

“Stuart showed great awareness and evasion and it was a great moment, he didn’t have to wait long to break the record.

“I read a nice article from Tony Stanger, who shared that record. It has lasted almost a hundred years, so it’s nice for our captain to break that today.”

Townsend was proud of Scotland’s defensive effort at BT Murrayfield, as they managed to restrict Japan to just one try.

Victory against the Brave Blossoms is their third of the autumn, to go alongside earlier wins against Tonga and Australia. Townsend toasted a job well done but insists they have areas to improve.

“I feel from this campaign, we have introduced new players into the squad. We have got 12 new caps, which is almost unheard of, and we have seen players thrive,” he said.

“We have developed further. We have tried to take our defensive game on, we have been resilient at times today and against Australia.

“We have lost to improve against teams with a similar philosophy and strength, which we get in the Six Nations and our next game against England.”

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