Hogg demands more effort

Scotland flanker Allister Hogg admits possession must be turned into tries after Frank Hadden's men drew another blank in Cardiff.

Scotland flanker Allister Hogg admits possession must be turned into tries after Frank Hadden's men drew another blank in Cardiff.

Saturday's 30-15 defeat by Wales, with Chris Paterson kicking all five of his penalty attempts, left Scotland with just one try in five matches.

They rarely threatened the Welsh back line following their disappointing opening Six Nations defeat by France at Murrayfield the previous weekend.

Hogg was involved in one of Scotland's better breaks when he burst forward on to the edge of the Welsh 22 before dispatching the ball to Andy Henderson, who was blocked by Ian Gough.

Paterson converted the resulting penalty to make the scores 17-15 but Wales stepped up the pace in the final twenty minutes and Shane Williams crossed for his second try.

Hogg, 25, knows Scotland will have to improve greatly if they are to threaten Ireland in Dublin on February 23.

“It was a good inside ball, John Barclay was up in support,” he said.

“Unfortunately that's where we were struggling. We were making the breaks but not executing them.

“We made three points out of that as well, but breaks like that we need to be getting tries from.

“Maybe Wales were street-smart, giving away the three points and not letting us have any momentum.”

Hogg came on for skipper Jason White, who suffered a head injury around the half-hour mark, after being left out of the 22 for the defeat by France.

“Last week was pretty tough for me,” he said.

“It's the first time I have been dropped.

“It happens to everyone, it's how you come back from that. But I was pleased to be on the bench and pleased to come on.”

Paterson – who became Scotland's record points-scorer in the championship on 292 by overtaking Gavin Hastings – played down the pressure on him to score Scotland's points and was in no mood to celebrate.

“We are more disappointed than anyone else, you put so much hard work in and sacrifice so much and when you feel like you do now you think why do you give so much,” Paterson said.

“I thought we started reasonably well. There was a sustained period of attack from Wales that we defended on our own line and we took a lot of confidence from that.

“We went 3-0 ahead and at one point after their first try I felt as if we had been pretty much bullied, but it was only 7-3 on the scoreboard and we took strength from that.

“Halfway through the second half, that is when the game got away from us. We will need to address that.”