Graham Hogg wants Currie clash with touring side to pave way for more of the same

Hogg, who has worked as assistant coach and mentor to Ally Donaldson as Currie have risen to the top of the Scottish club game, enjoyed his own share of success as a player and vividly recalls matches with touring sides. He won the Division 1 championship with Hawick and Boroughmuir before it became an official competition in 1974, represented Edinburgh and the South, and came off the bench twice for Scotland in the late 1970s.

Among those highlights were games against touring teams from the southern hemisphere, and he can still recall the moment when he almost scored what would have been the match-winning try for Edinburgh against Australia at Myreside in 1975.

"Yes, almost…" he laughs. "I can still remember it as if it was yesterday. Fraser Dall had kicked through and I was there and just had to catch the ball and score, but it took a wicked bounce off the end and as I went left to get it the ball shot right and away over the try-line.

"It is a great thing in the game being able to play against an international side coming in, and it's good to see an opportunity coming back. I don't remember a club side playing a touring international team before, but I think everyone in the club game would agree that now that we've got it here we should make every effort to keep clubs involved with touring sides when it's feasible.

"The introduction of the club international side and then the British and Irish Cup were great moves that we can build on, and I think this is another step in the right direction for Scottish rugby."

While the unique feel around this game is expected to entice a good crowd to Malleny Park tonight, what kind of challenge the team will face on the field remains open to question.

"We don't know much about the Japanese, though Ally watched them have a run-out at the weekend, but I think coaches can spend too much time looking at opposition rather than worrying about themselves.

"One experience I did have of coming up against the Japanese was in 1998 when I coached the Scottish Students team with Ian Barnes in South Africa. We were quite a bit in front, and we put on replacements and took the foot off the gas a bit, and they scored five tries in no time and we had to scramble hard to win the game. That was a lesson and I expect that they will be similar in that they'll be capable of scoring from very little with the speed and work ethic Japanese sides tend to have. And they have a hell of an incentive now with the World Cup on the horizon.

"But I think our guys will rise to the occasion because they all know this is a unique game."

Currie: P Horne; K McShane, G Whyte, A MacMahon, C Kinloch; A Binikos, R Snedden; J Cox, A Kelly, A Hamilton, A Adam (capt), O Palepoi, M Cairns, J Thomson, R Weston. Subs: A Reekie, N Scobie, G Temple, S Ormiston, F Strachan, A Whittingham, S Walker.

Referee: P Allan (SRU).