Hogg admits it is a position he aspires to, and paid tribute to the influences of Edinburgh captain and Scotland assistant coach Todd Blackadder on his fledgling rugby career.

“It’s nice of him to say that,” reflected Hogg, who has yet to win his first full international cap. “What can you say? It’s where you always want to be.

“First you want to play for your country, and then you want to captain and lead your country.

“There’s no better feeling than running out in front of your home crowd as captain, so we’ll have to wait and see what happens in the future.

“I’ve captained the Under-19s before and I captained the Under-21s last season, and I enjoyed the challenge of trying to motivate players and lead them on the pitch so I certainly would enjoy being captain of the full team.”

Hogg added: “I’ve learned a great deal from Todd. He’s a great campaigner and he’s inspirational on and off the park in the things he says and the way he motivates people.

“You learn that some captains bawl and shout and some talk to the players, so there’s a lot of different aspects to it.

“So you just learn to use whatever you think is the best at the time for the players around you.”

Hogg was invited to Williams’ first training camp of 2004 at Stirling as the new Scots coach considers his options ahead of the forthcoming RBS 6 Nations Championships.

The Edinburgh youngster is keen to quickly make the step up to full international level, but admits his target for this season is simply to establish himself at club level.

He said: “I would love to play in the Six Nations for Matt, but ultimately it’s up to him. If I have to play for the Under-21s, then I’m more than happy to do that.

“We’ve got the World Cup for the Under-21s in the summer as well, so I’m looking forward to that.

“Hopefully I’ll be involved, we’ll just have to wait and see – but really my goal for the season is to keep down a place at Edinburgh.”