Allister Hogg did not appear to be in a trance as he spoke to the media at Murrayfield Stadium yesterday, but the Scotland No.8 was struggling to convince reporters that he had overcome the horror of Edinburgh's opening Heineken Cup defeat, David Ferguson writes in The Scotsman.
"Hogg has been here before. He came off the bench with Scotland having been stunned by losing 21 points to Italy in the opening seven minutes of 'that' RBS Six Nations match in 2007, and has played in games with the likes of New Zealand where he shared teammates' frustrations at giving up the early initiative only to rally in the second half. In Edinburgh's colours, he too has rued many wasted first halves, as recently as two weeks ago when the Magners League game at the Ospreys was tossed away early on by mistakes.
"He insisted that it was wrong to blame Edinburgh's open style of play for contributing to their downfall, that basic errors were the chief reason, and insisted there should be no tightening-up of their attacking philosophy."
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