Six Nations 2018: Stuart Hogg fires out warning to rivals that Scotland will 'do some damage'

Scotland full-back has returned from injury firing on all cylinders and believes that Gregor Townsend's attack-first side will give all comers a run for their money

Stuart Hogg believes Scotland will 'do some damage' when the Six Nations begins in two weeks (Getty)

Stuart Hogg has sent out a firm warning to Scotland’s Six Nations rivals by insisting that Gregor Townsend’s side will “do some damage” in the upcoming championship, with the full-back wasting little time in his return from injury to get back up to full speed.

The full-back has endured a nightmare run of injuries of late, having been ruled out of the British and Irish Lions tour after suffering a broken cheekbone during the warm-up victory against the Crusaders, before undergoing surgery on his shoulder that ruled him out of the start of the season.

Having returned in time to feature in Scotland’s autumn internationals, Hogg starred as they pushed New Zealand to the limit, only to then pick up a hip injury before their final Test against Australia in November that sidelined him for two months.

But despite making just four appearances before Saturday’s breath-taking 28-21 European Champions Cup over Exeter Chiefs, Hogg hit his stride as Glasgow ran in three brilliant tries against the Premiership champions – adding one himself as well as playing a hand in the other two.

With the full-back appearing to be back to full fitness, Scotland will hope to see him at his best when the Six Nations gets underway next weekend, and Hogg firmly believes that the Scots are ready to build on last year’s three victories to challenge for the title.

"We had a good autumn and almost beat the All Blacks, but that's in the past," said Hogg.

"We can learn from that and look to improve, and get excited for the challenges coming our way. This tournament is huge, everybody watches it, and we feel we can do some damage.

"We'll work incredibly hard and concentrate on Wales."

Hogg returned to action with Glasgow at the weekend after two months out (Getty)

The 25-year-old confirmed that he felt fine after the encounter as the Scotland squad met up for a three-day training camp ahead of the Six Nations campaign, with Hogg a certainty to be selected by Townsend as long as he can keep himself in peak condition.

The arrival of Townsend as Scotland coach from his former role with Glasgow has seen the national team embrace the Warriors’ attacking instincts, with Hogg scoring the opening try at the weekend after just 71 seconds and the other two scores coming from length-of-the-field efforts that saw him link up beautifully with international teammates Finn Russell and Tommy Seymour.

Hogg suffered the hip injury during last November's autumn internationals (Getty)

History has shown that while Scotland can attack from anywhere on the pitch, the approach can leave them exposed – such as last year’s record 61-21 defeat by England proved – but they are not about to tear up the playing manual and will stick by their eye-catching style this time around.

"We chucked the ball about right from our own line, and there were a few swear-words towards Finn when he wanted to run from there, but thankfully it came off for us," Hogg added. "We've got a game-plan in place we want to try and get victories from. We just backed our coaches' ability to learn there, and at times it came off for us.

"The main thing is we scored tries from the things we worked on during the week.

"In times gone by we've maybe not communicated accurately enough. It's something we've worked incredibly hard on, especially this week, because we feel we've been coming unstuck with that in times gone by.

Gregor Townsend has brought his attacking philosophy from Glasgow to the Scottish national team (Getty)

"We all know how each other want to play; you've just got to demand the ball when you see space. It's all about resetting, picking our heads up and seeing what's in front of us, and trying to pick on the bigger boys. I think we did that incredibly well at times."

Scotland get their Six Nations campaign underway against Wales in Cardiff on 3 February before back-to-back home matches against France and England, and wrap up the championship by hitting the road to take on Ireland in Dublin and Italy in Rome.