Stuart Hogg and Matt Scott “gambled” and won for the key tries that won Scotland’s first 6 Nations game for two years and put them in at the heart of this year’s championship.
The Scots’ backs shared four tries in Saturday’s 34-10 win over Italy the first time since 1924 that the Scottish back division has had a quartet of try scorers in a championship match with the two youngsters at the heart of it.
Scott might well have had a hat-trick, tackled just short of the line in the first half and then called back for a marginal forward pass. In between those, however, he cantered for the line off an incisive attack for his debut international try.
Hogg’s length-of-the-field interception try, one of the most memorable in years at Murrayfield, sealed victory just a few minutes later but the Scottish camp are adamant that admiring their handiwork is the last thing on their minds.
“I could have had three but one will do fine for now,” said former Currie stand-off Matt Scott, who has switched to centre in pro rugby.
“Sean (Maitland) took a brilliant line and he’s brilliant at freeing his arms to get the pass away, so I just made the ‘gamble’ run hoping he’d get it away, I juggled it but hung on.”
Scott took a couple of knocks late in the game but refused to withdraw and shook them off.
“I didn’t want to get subbed two minutes before the end. I wanted to see it out and enjoy that moment,” he said. “We’ve not won a game in a long time and it’s just great to get one.
“We’ll enjoy it now and we’ll just be gunning to beat Ireland that’s the big aim for us.”
Hogg’s gamble was more clear cut, opting to step to make his intercept of Luciano Orquera with impeccable timing as the alternative was an Italy try.
“It was a clear 14-pointer I knew I had to go for it,” said the full-back. “If (Orquera) had dummied he was straight in, but instead there was suddenly nobody in front of me so I thought, ‘go for it’.”
The retreating Italians couldn’t lay a finger on the new Scotland star at full sprint.
He said 3.81secs over 30 metres was his best time, adding: “I think Sean Lamont is one of the quicker in the team and obviously Sean Maitland and Tim Visser are up there. It’s good to get to show everyone how quick you are, and better me than Visser!”
Hogg gave credit for victory to the forward pack.
“It goes to the boys up front because the scrum and the lineout were outstanding,” he said. “I think the Italians came over with a massive pack thinking they’d dominate us, and they did nothing of the sort.
“We really worked hard on the breakdown because we were really beaten there at times last week and we didn’t want that feeling again, and it’s great now to have that winning mentality back.
A winning performance in front of a home crowd there’s no better feeling.”
Interim head coach Scott Johnson believes the Ireland match will be a proper test for new found confidence.
“There’s been a massive improvement (from the England game) but for us to get to the level we want to get to, we need to do this against the guys that do it best,” he said.
“If we get the first part, the gainline contest right, we’ll show we can play a grand style of footy people will enjoy.”
The coach believes his back three have more potential than the Welsh backs he helped coach to a Grand Slam.
“The fact is these kids have got gifts. The early days with Wales we didn’t have people to go the distance we had to pass a lot. It’s nice to coach guys who can go the length of the field.
“They’ve got a long way to go and they’ve got ills in their game but they’ve got some special gifts. Now if they combine the gifts and improve the ills we’ll have a pretty deadly back three.”
For further Six Nations coverage, including a full match report from Murrayfield, see Monday’s Courier or try our new digital edition.