SCOTLAND captain Stuart Hogg has admitted for his second mistake in as many weeks after Scotland fell to defeat against England to lose the Calcutta Cup yesterday.

Hogg dropped the ball as he crossed the try line last week against Ireland last week to miss a certain try and while his mistake at Murrayfield yesterday was not quite as calamitous, it proved to be equally costly.

With 12 minutes of the game remaining, and the scoreline stuck at 3-3, Hogg attempted to let a loose ball bounce over his tryline before grounding it but he fumbled it and initially, it appeared to all that England had snatched a try from under Scotland’s noses.

However, after being referred to the TMO, the decision by match referee Pascal Gauzere was for a scrum just five metres from Scotland’s tryline, from which England scored the only try of the game from. It was a score that proved to be game-winning.

“I’m devastated,” said Hogg.

“Again, it was a huge chance for us to exit and get down the right end.

“Unfortunately the ball just didn’t sit up and it was tough to take. I put the boys under a wee bit of pressure and, unfortunately, we didn’t manage to get out of it.

“I’ll take that on my shoulders, take it on the chin and be in a position to say I made a mistake.

“I’m not going to shy away from it. Unfortunately I made a mistake – and these things cost us.”

Hogg played well throughout the game but his overall performance will, once again, be overshadowed by one single mistake.

The captain’s error was, at least in part, as a result of the horrendous weather conditions that the players had to battle, with gusting winds and driving rain making conditions almost unplayable.

Both sides put in an error-strewn performance and Hogg admitted that the weather made playing good rugby nigh on impossible, with his side struggling to get to grips with the conditions thrown up by Storm Ciara.

“It was really tough,” he said.

“It was definitely up there (with the worst conditions I’ve played in). I had to jump in shower straight after game because I was freezing.

“But we had to adapt.

“Sometimes we did, and sometimes we struggled,

“But credit to England, they executed their kicking game very well.”

The Scots had the majority of the possession yesterday but just as in the Ireland match in their opening Six Nations fixture last weekend, Gregor Townsend’s men squandered a number of chances to put pressure on their opposition and put points on the board and Hogg admitted it was hugely frustrating to see so many opportunities slip through their fingers. But he also expressed disappointment with a number of refereeing decisions that Scotland were on the wrong end of because if they had gone the home side’s way, the result may have been different.

“We got some good opportunities in that second half, especially early doors, and got ourselves into some good areas. Unfortunately we just came up short.” he said.

“And a couple of decisions didn’t go our way unfortunately. But we had to get on with it and try again.

“The referee sees it some ways, sometimes sees it in a different way. It’s up to us to get on with it. No matter what we say, we can’t change the outcome. You need to suck it up.

“We can only control what we do. We can’t control the ref.

“The boys are bitterly disappointed with the outcome but there are some things to improve on.”

Hogg and his compatriots now have two weeks until their next Six Nations clash, when they travel to Rome to face Italy in a must-win game.

The players will go back to their clubs this week, although almost all of the Scotland-based players will be rested next weekend to ensure they remain fit for Scotland duty.

And while Hogg admits his side are hugely disappointed with their result against England, which saw them lose the Calcutta Cup having won it the previous two years, he insists they will quickly pick themselves up, dust themselves off and get ready for their visit to Rome.

“We’re hurting now,” said Hogg.

“But on Monday when we’re back in together, we’ll look forward to our next job.

“We will have to realise and accept where we’ve gone wrong, learn from these costly errors and put them right for Italy in a couple of weeks’ time.”