Stuart Hogg: From Mansfield to Murrayfield, Scotland’s greatest centurion
“When I started playing regular rugby all I wanted was 53. And people used to ask me, ‘why the hell do you want 53?’ and it was because that would make me the most-capped Hawick player.”
Ahead of his 100th cap for Scotland, Stuart Hogg was in fine spirits having just been awarded his match jersey from some of Scottish Rugby’s favourite sons. The men’s centurion club has an elite membership with Ross Ford, Chris Paterson and Sean Lamont as its only inductees.
Hogg has been the poster boy of the national team, starting 98 of his previous 99 tests. The only time he came off the bench was his first international cap in a game against Wales which we don’t need to linger on.
It seems only fitting that Hogg’s first run out at Murrayfield was for a halftime match during a Scottish clash with Ireland in 2003. Hogg was cheered by the Irish for wearing green on that occasion, a welcome he’s guaranteed not to receive this time around.
Hogg bleeds blue for Scotland and as with many a rugby tale in the tartan-clad country, the journey starts in the borders.
Gregor Townsend has seen Hogg transform Scottish rugby. He said:“The first time I saw him was one afternoon in Gala, as a 16-year-old playing for Hawick in the Gala Sevens. There was already a bit of chat about him. He was much slimmer, the same length of hair.
“I remember seeing his change of pace, and you register in the back of your mind, ‘there could be someone coming through here’.
“I watched Scotland under-18s against France at Selkirk, and the centres that day were Mark Bennett at 12 and Stuart Hogg at 13. Stuart was outstanding that day; they should have beaten France,” he added.
Hawick and the Hogg clan are inseparable. It is no wonder that when asked what this momentous cap means for the people of Hawick, he stressed they turn to international business once the Greens had played Currie for the Premiership title.
“I think their focus will be elsewhere at this present moment in time, they’ll hopefully be looking forward to a Hawick win at Mansfield Park this afternoon and so am I,” said Hogg.
“I am pretty nervous about that game, I can’t lie. My brother is an attack coach and my dad is the director of rugby. I was down watching last weekend and it was quality.”
The trip down memory lane allowed the former Scotland captain the opportunity to catch up with the man who had inspired him all the way to Murrayfield.
“I had a chance to speak to Jim [Renwick] last week and he was absolutely buzzing. It’s just quality because you really appreciate when things are going well just how many people are behind you and coming from a small place like Hawick it means a great deal to everyone so that’s quality to have their support.
Hogg has nearly doubled the number of caps Renwick won, toured with the Lions and achieved success with Townsend that players across the country could only dream of.
The fullback has won everything you can in club rugby. With Glasgow, he triumphed in the Pro12 and his move to Exeter was pivotal for the Devonshire side. He helped the Chiefs to a historic double of the European Rugby Champions Cup, in their first appearance in the final, and the English Premiership crown.
Hogg’s achievements are unquestionable. Whilst wearing the thistle for Scotland, he has been Player of the Tournament in two Six Nations championships and Scotland’s leading try scorer captained his side for their first back-to-back win against England in four decades.
“For me every opportunity you get to represent your country there’s no better feeling. It’s a feeling that I love and I’ll miss when I’m gone. It is a feeling right now that I’ll never ever take for granted. This jersey and this country means the world to me. And I’ll do everything I can to make sure I represent it in the best way,” said Hogg.
While Hogg has been a lynchpin to Scotland’s rebirth in the rugby world, this current Scotland squad, hailed as the greatest since 1999, still has question marks over its ability to string together consistent form. While Calcutta Cups have become the norm over recent years, major silverware continues to elude the ‘Hoggy’ era of Scottish Rugby.
The Hawick man expressed that: “Every competition you play in you are there to win. You are not there to make up the numbers and let other teams win trophies in front of you. We want to be in a position to lift trophies and nothing would please me more than seeing “J” [Jamie Ritchie] lift it tomorrow.
Hogg’s hundredth cap is in a game that will define this generation of players. They face Ireland, the undisputed best team in World Rugby in a game that has Triple Crown and Six Nations Championship ramifications.
Scotland’s head coach beat Ireland back in 1999 to win the last Five Nations title, but since his ascension to his current coaching role, Townsend has never beaten the Irish in their seven encounters.
“We’d love to get over [the hump], that’s for sure. We know playing Ireland is a tough task every year. The way they’ve kicked on and become the number one team in the world, it’s probably the toughest challenge you can get,” the head coach noted.
Hogg has been involved in his fair share of ‘shoulda coulda woulda’ games. Most notably against the All Blacks on the two most recent occasions and France in the previous round of this year’s Six Nations.
Since Hogg’s first cap, the air of pessimism that has wafted along with Scotland’s national team has been replaced with optimism and, at times, perhaps over-ambitious expectations.
A win against Ireland would see Hogg and this Scotland squad dream of the unthinkable next weekend. In the meantime, there is the small matter of overcoming Jonny Sexton and the green machine.
That being said, with the border town winning their first Premiership title for 21 years things are looking good for the Prince of Hawick and his countrymen.
Ireland ransack Scotland 82-7 to set up U20 grand slam decider
