Scottish duo aiming to kick-start Six Nations campaign
SCOTLAND’S two main contenders for goal-kicking duties are keeping a united front as coach Ian McGeechan refused to confirm which player would be handed the role against Wales.
Wasps wing Kenny Logan, who was disappointed to lose the task after landing two out of three penalties by half time in the 16-6 defeat to France, and Duncan Hodge, who replaced him, both insisted the success of the team was more important than individual rivalries. Logan, who will win his 51st cap against Wales, said: ‘‘I’m beyond worrying about goal-kicking, I just get on and do it.
‘‘If I do it, I do it and if I don’t I support Hodge. If I kick, he supports me. I think that’s the important thing with goal-kickers.’’
With Gregor Townsend ruled out through injury, Logan, it seems, is just happy Scotland can call on someone as capable as Hodge to fill in at fly-half.
He said: ‘‘I think the good thing is that someone like Hodgy has played a lot of times for his country. He’s won big games, he’s beaten England.”
Hodge, meanwhile, is simply relishing the opportunity to build on his last Six Nations Championship start the starring role he played in the victory over England last year.
He said: ‘‘There’s two or three of us that kick every day most weeks, so its just ‘whatever happens, happens’. Kenny and I are both ready to do the kicking.
‘‘We need a win on Saturday so that’s all I’m thinking about, playing my part in the team getting a win. No more than that, not an individual agenda basically.’’
Hodge, whose career prior to that match-winning performance against England was halted when he broke his leg in the 1999 Murrayfield meeting with the Welsh, is happy to accept rugby is a squad game. He said: ‘‘That was probably the worst bit of my rugby career, breaking my leg. It is hard watching the team play when you know you should hopefully be involved in some way.” Hodge, who will come up against a deadly goal-kicker in opposite number Neil Jenkins, knows that keeping the scoreboard ticking over will be crucial to the outcome of the game against a Welsh side that cannot be underestimated.
He said: ‘‘You’ve just got to try and score every time you’re down in their half. They’re obviously a good side one result doesn’t make them a bad team - so it’s going to be extremely hard.”
