Scotland’s Stuart Hogg is favourite to start at full-back for the Lions following the conclusion of the Six Nations but must work on his defence, that’s the view of two-time British & Irish Lions captain Martin Johnson.

Hogg made two try-saving tackles against the Italians at the weekend as Scotland won 29-0 at BT Murrayfield to emphasis his qualities in stopping tries as well as scoring them.

Back in 2013, Leigh Halfpenny was the Lions’ Player of the Series against Australia from Hogg’s position at full-back while the Scot was limited to just five appearances.

The 24-year-old started at fly-half in one game, scoring a try and four conversions, but didn’t earn a Test cap in the 2-1 series victory.

Now though, Johnson thinks Hogg is ahead of Halfpenny in the race for the starting 15 jersey following the conclusion of the Championship but insists there are still areas for improvement.

“There are questions marks there (over his defence) but I think he’s in my definite category in that he’ll go on the tour and is favourite to wear the 15 shirt,” said Johnson, who is an ambassador for British & Irish Lions Principal Partner Standard Life Investments.

“He’ll understand, and they’ll let him know, that if he has a weakness New Zealand will find it, of all the teams you’ll ever play, they are the ones that will know about it and try and exploit it.

“You have to work on your game. But what he brings in terms of attacking, we have seen a lot of rugby where it’s difficult to break teams down once they have their defence going, a player that can beat a player one on one and get through the line is all important.

“I think he will get the first shot at it.”

In an emotional send-off to head coach Vern Cotter at BT Murrayfielf, Finn Russell also caught the eye with an impressive display which included a try and three conversions.

Russell has impressed for Glasgow Warriors as well as Scotland, but Johnson thinks it’ll be tough for him to push his way into the thinking of Lions head coach Warren Gatland.

“Your eyes are on the other two games,” Johnson added.

“You can’t just go on one performance you have to take what those people can do, the great thing for Lions coaches now is they have higher quality of rugby to watch all through the season.

“It was just the 5 Nations, even in my early days, now there’s European rugby, there’s a higher standard of rugby across the board to watch these guys.

“They have professional coaches who you can talk to and get hopefully an accurate read on some of these guys and what they are about.”

Martin Johnson is an Ambassador for British & Irish Lions Principal Partner Standard Life Investments.