Stuart Hogg wants the shot at New Zealand he was denied through injury in the summer but admits if Scotland stand back and admire the All Blacks they could be in serious trouble.
Hogg marked his return to international rugby against Samoa on Saturday with a try after just 94 seconds, his 17th in internationals bringing him level with his head coach Gregor Townsend, Alan Tait and another former Scotland and Lions full-back, Gavin Hastings.
“I didn’t know that, but it’s pretty cool,” he said after Scotland’s 44-38 win. “That’s a good list to be on.
“That was just one of those where I was in the right place at the right time, it could have gone anywhere but it bounced straight into my hands.”
Hogg does feel he has unfinished business with New Zealand, having been set for the full-back role on the Lions Tour this summer but having to go home after a bizarre accidental collision with team-mate Connor Murray that fractured his cheekbone in a warm-up match against Crusaders.
“I was bitterly disappointed not to play them in the summer,” he said. “Hopefully I get an opportunity next week to take them on. It’s always an honour and privilege to be in a Scotland jersey and hopefully we can knock them over.
“We are fully aware of what the all Blacks are capable of. We will just concentrate on ourselves and make sure we get our game plan spot-on and get the basic things right.
“It’s still going to be one hell of a challenge next week. First and foremost, we concentrate on ourselves.
“We are not going out there to stand back and watch and admire the All Blacks. We want to be in a position to shut them down defensively because If we don’t it will be a long day. What better opportunity than to play the All Blacks at home?”
Hogg admitted to frustrations with the Samoa game, and that it would require a considerable step-up against New Zealand, who torched France with four tries in the first half in Paris on Saturday night and eventually won 38-18.
“Credit to Samoa, they really brought it to us and we struggled to get our game going at times,” he continued. “When it worked for us we were scoring points and there’s a lot to take out of that game and a lot to learn and improve.
“We got the win and we’re delighted with that. But we will learn from it and look to improve against the All Blacks next week because if we play like that again, it will be a tough, long day.”
Defence coach Matt Taylor hadn’t said very much after the game about the Scots conceding five tries, but Hogg expected he was “probably going to unleash hell on Monday.”
“We fully expect that to happen,” he went on. “We pride ourselves on our defence and it wasn’t good enough. We will work on that and hopefully next week there will be a big improvement.”
Hogg was also livid a clean break in the second half was called back by referee Nic Berry for obstruction.
“I was frustrated,” he said. “There is a lot of inconsistency with that law. Some referees will let it go and some won’t. I had beaten the guy who was smack, bang in front of me.”
The Scots will confirm today whether prop WP Nel broke his arm during the first half, but it seems likely the tight-head, who missed almost all of last season’s internationals, will be out for the remainder of the Autumn Test series.
Gregor Townsend is confident that Zander Fagerson will slot back into the starting role and has already sung the praises of Simon Berghan’s form this season for Edinburgh.
“Tight-head is a position where we are strong and have players in form at the moment,” he said.
Tommy Seymour suffered a toe injury but is not expected to be in question to play New Zealand next week.
