Hogg wins second successive Six Nations championship player award

The former Hawick player, who scored three tries and helped set up numerous others in Scotland’s campaign, secured over 24.6 per cent of the public vote, receiving the backing of over 29,730 fans.

In addition to the public vote, a shortlist was drawn up, based on a specific algorithm, where players at every RBS 6 Nations match this year were awarded (or deducted) points based on several different performance categories covering all aspects of the game.

Hogg, who also became Scotland’s all-time top try scorer in Six Nations history – and the the youngest Scot to reach 50 caps during the tournament – was joined in fifth place by team mate Finn Russell, who took 8.3 per cent of the vote.

Hogg (24) grabbed two first-half tries at Murrayfield as the Scots got off to a stylish 27-22 win over Ireland, in their first opening-day victory at the Six Nations for 17 years.

The ex-Mansfield Park player was on the scoresheet again in Paris, collecting a pass from Huw Jones and sprinting through a gap to score after running impressively off the ball, but the Scots lost that very bruising encounter 22-16.

Hogg didn’t score in the next game against Wales but displayed some superb control at speed with kick and run, and had a hand in Scotland’s two tries in their 29-13 win at Murrayfield.

Early in the second half, he helped Tim Visser tee up Tommy Seymour for a try, while later on, he collected a long pass from fly-half Finn Russell and made a super-swift transfer to Visser, who crossed the line.

Hogg bowed out of the ill-fated trip to Twickenham with a head injury after just 17 minutes, with the Scots going down 61-21, but he was back for the concluding game at Murrayfield against Italy and scored a fourth-minute penalty goal with a kick from 49 metres.

He displayed some fine long-range kicking and also gave the pass which enabled Matt Scott to score an unconventional Scottish try.

Early in the second half, Hogg made a definite try-saving tackle on Angelo Esposito, holding him up after the Italian winger looked utterly certain to score from a sustained attacking spell. It was one of several occasions in which glaring errors by the Italians robbed them of gilt-edged scoring opportunities.

Hogg later chipped forward for Tim Visser to touch down for a try, while Scotland, who won 29-0, rounded things off late on with an excellent team try, in which Hogg gave the assist for Tommy Seymour to score.