18 1GS Saturday January 1 2022 | the times
Sport Rugby union
before when there have been crowds.
We’ve gained vital experience in the
last 18 months so the challenge for us
now, a brilliant challenge, is to play
England first up [at Murrayfield on
February 5] then going to the
Principality [Stadium, to face Wales],
which for me is one of the best places
you can play rugby.
“It’s a challenge that excites me.
It’s just making sure we believe and
understand what it’s going to take to
win these games. There’s a lot of
experienced boys who have been
around a long time. Finn, Hamish,
Jonny Gray. Then there’s the
coaching staff we have: Gregor
[Townsend] is absolutely outstanding,
and AB [Zondagh, the attack and
skills coach] coming in is only going
to take us forward again.”
This will be Hogg’s third Six
Nations as skipper, and watching,
listening and speaking to others
about him, it is clear how the former
Glasgow full back has grown into the
role, despite playing in a position
from which it is difficult to captain.
“I’m a lot more relaxed now, and I
know what my job is as leader,” Hogg,
who approached Townsend after the
2019 World Cup and volunteered to
plug the gap left by Greig Laidlaw’s
retirement, says.
“The biggest part is allowing
other boys to crack on with it as
well. We talk about the leadership
group as being a team within the
team, and I will very rarely speak
during the week.‘I know my job as a leader –
it’s not motivational speeches’
O
n February 12, when
Scotland face Wales in
Cardiff in the Six Nations,
it will be exactly a decade
since Stuart Hogg made
his Test debut against the same
opponents at the same venue. Eighty-
eight Scotland caps, three British &Irish Lions tours and the same
number of children later, he returns as
captain of a team determined to take
the next step and go from winning
games to challenging for trophies.
“If we’re ever going to win it, will it
be now? I can’t sit here and say if,
when or how, but I know we’re goingto give it absolutely everything to
make sure we are in a position to win
trophies,” Hogg tells The Times this
week. “We all desperately want that
and we’re more than capable of
doing it. Ten years, though, jeez...
that makes me feel old.”
Hogg’s year begins with a home
game for Exeter Chiefs against Bristol
Bears this afternoon. The Chiefs’
most recent outing was that bizarre
match in the Scotstoun fog that
resulted in Glasgow Warriors, his old
club, winning 22-7 in the Heineken
Champions Cup. “Glasgow were
absolutely outstanding in the way
they stood firm defensively, didn’t
allow us to get into multi-phase, and
little Rossco [fly half Ross Thompson]
managed to keep kicking over those
penalties for fun,” Hogg says.
“We’ve looked at that game but
we can’t take a huge amount [from it],
because we couldn’t watch a lot of it
from different angles, with the
weather. But we know we didn’t really
fire a shot. It was very disappointing,
but we’re very much looking forward
to the return fixture [on January 15]
and making sure we can still be in this
European battle.
“The fog was something else. We do
a loosener [warm-up] about an hour
and a quarter before the game. I stood
right under the posts, looked out, and
you couldn’t see the top of the far
posts. There was one time I put a kick
through, thinking there was a lot of
space, only to then run ten yards
and find Kyle Steyn standing right
in the way.”
Hogg is the first to admit that
Rob Baxter’s men are yet to find top
gear this season. They sit sixth in the
Gallagher Premiership but are only a
couple of wins off third, and beat the
second-placed Saracens in their most
recent league fixture.
“If you look at the table it’s a bit
harum-scarum,” Hogg says. “It’s wide
open. We’ve not hit our straps this
season. We’ve had a lot of good
honest conversations about how
things can improve — and that’s
getting our identity back.
“Since coming back from the
autumn Tests, we’ve started to really
click into gear. Hopefully we can
make that last longer, and really put
the foot on the throat of teams.
“We’re a hungry bunch. If we’re
being honest, we’ve overworked at
times, tried too hard and forced
things a bit. I genuinely believe we
are one very good performance
away from properly kicking off our
season. It has to come sooner rather
than later.”
Despite his protestations, the truth
is that Hogg turns 30 in June, as does
the other big dog in the Scotland back
line, Finn Russell. Chris Harris is 31
and Hamish Watson entered his
fourth decade in October; there is
a growing sense of “now or never”
when it comes to a plainly talented
side etching their legacy in silver.
“There is no better feeling than
winning in a Scotland jersey, and I’d
love to be in a position when it comes
to the Six Nations that we back up
what we’ve done in the last 18 months
or so,” Hogg says. “We’ve had some of
our biggest wins with no crowds
[because of Covid]. I’d really love to
be in a position to back it up.
“I know we are more than capable
of these wins, because we’ve done it,
and we have been in positions to winFull back Stuart Hogg
tells Mark Palmer of
his high hopes this year
for Exeter and Scotland
Hogg believes
that he can win
silverware with
Scotland and
Exeter this year