Stuart Hogg (rugby player)

Amateur career

He was a pupil at Trinity Primary School and Hawick High School. He played at Hawick Wanderers, Hawick and Heriot's. He has represented Scotland at under-17, under-18, and under-20 level before he went on to gain full international honours.

Professional career

Hogg made two Warriors appearances in season 2010–11 and began the 2011–12 RaboDirect PRO12 campaign as the club's starting full-back. He was named in the Pro12 Dream team at the end of the 2012/13 season. It was announced in November 2014 that Stuart Hogg had signed a two-year contract extension with the Glasgow Warriors, keeping him at the club until at least May 2017. He signed a further contract in 2016 taking him to the end of the 2018/19 season. In 2017 Hogg became the youngest player to reach 100 appearances at the age of just 24.

International career

He gained his first cap for the Scotland national rugby union team after earning a call up to Andy Robinson's 36-man squad for the 2012 Six Nations following a series of impressive performances for Glasgow. Hogg impressed on his debut against Wales in Cardiff, coming on as a substitute following injury to Max Evans. However, he was denied a try on his debut by the referee wrongly calling for a knock-on in the build up to his crossing the line. Hogg was subsequently named in the starting line-up for the first time for the match versus France. He scored his first try for Scotland in the 8th minute against France.

2013

In the RBS Six Nations 2013 he scored his second and third international tries against England in Round one and in Round two he scored a fantastic try against the Italians an intercept try from his 5-metre line and ran 95 metres to score his third international try

He was one of the four Scotland players called up for the Lions squad for the 2013 British and Irish Lions tour to Australia and was the youngest player on the 2013 tour.

2014

On 8 March, he scored his 4th International try against France at Murrayfield. On 15 March, he was sent off in a Six Nations game against Wales for a late and dangerous hit on Dan Biggar, although originally shown a yellow card by referee Jérôme Garcès the referee then looked at the replays on one of the big screens in the stadium and upgraded his decision to a red card.

On 8 June 2014, during Scotland's Summer tour he made his first appearance against the USA after his red card against Wales and he marked that game with his 5th International try. On 14 June 2014, he slotted a crucial 43-metre kick to secure a win against Canada at BMO Stadium the final score was 17–19 to Scotland during the Scotland Summer tour. On 20 June 2014, he scored his sixth try for Scotland against Argentina during the Scotland summer tour. Scotland won the game 21–18.

He played a role in Scotland 7's team in the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow at Ibrox Stadium he scored one try in the competition. During Scotland's Autumn Internationals in 2014 he scored two tries, one against Argentina at Murrayfield and one against Tonga at Rugby Park, Kilmarnock

2015

In a struggling Scotland side in the 2015 Six Nations Championship, Hogg made the most metres (442); beat the most defenders (18); and made the second most carries (63). Defensively, he also made a significant contribution as a cover tackler, particularly against England where he made four last ditch tackles in the opening quarter of the game.

Domestically it was a successful season for Hogg, with Glasgow Warriors winning their first ever Pro 12 title at Ravenhill in Belfast.

Having been selected in the 31-man squad, Hogg played in all five of Scotland's matches at the 2015 Rugby World Cup, in which they were eliminated at the Quarter-Final stage by Australia after a controversial decision by referee Craig Joubert which has since been declared by the WRU to be the wrong decision.

2016

The 2016 Six Nations Championship again saw Hogg in the thick of the action, scoring tries against France and Ireland, the latter an inspired 55-metre individual effort after collecting a high ball. He was also widely praised for his creativity throughout the tournament, setting up tries against the French and Italy. Following a public vote, Hogg was named as the Six Nations Player of the Championship, the first Scottish player to receive the award.

2017

Hogg had a great 2017 Six Nations Championship scoring two tries against Ireland, he then continued this good form by scoring against France. In the last game of the 2017 Six Nations Championship against Italy he added 3 points with the boot in the 29-0 victory. He received a second successive Player of the Championship award, becoming the second person to achieve this.

On 19 April Hogg was named as one of two Scottish players in the initial squad selected for the British and Irish Lions 2017 squad to tour New Zealand in June and July.

International Points

Scores and results indicate Scotland's and British and Irish Lions point tally first.

Family

Hogg married in August 2016, and became a father later that year. His brother, Graham, has played for Scotland in the IRB Sevens World Series as well as representing his country at under-18, under-19 and under-20. Their father, John, played for Hawick before becoming a referee. In 2012, following his Scotland debut, he discovered he was a distant relative of George Best. A close relative of Best recognised the link after seeing Hogg play on television.

Popular culture

He is also briefly mentioned on Pottermore, in an excerpt written by J.K. Rowling for the website, suggesting that he and fellow players Jim Hamilton and Kelly Brown are in fact squibs – wizard-born with no magical powers – masquerading as muggles. In a tweet, J.K. Rowling later insinuated that Hogg was, in fact, a full-fledged Wizard.