Advertisement

Stuart Hogg interview: 'I am loving life at Exeter - it is the happiest I've been in a long time'

Stuart Hogg of Exeter Chiefs dives over to score a try during the Gallagher Premiership Rugby match between Exeter Chiefs and Worcester Warriors at Sandy Park on August 30 - Stuart Hogg interview: 'I am loving life at Exeter - it is the happiest I've been in a long time' - GETTY IMAGES
Stuart Hogg of Exeter Chiefs dives over to score a try during the Gallagher Premiership Rugby match between Exeter Chiefs and Worcester Warriors at Sandy Park on August 30 - Stuart Hogg interview: 'I am loving life at Exeter - it is the happiest I've been in a long time' - GETTY IMAGES

Stuart Hogg can identify the precise moment his year pivoted. The Scotland captain had made high-profile handling errors in successive Six Nations matches against Ireland and England. Returning to Premiership action with Exeter Chiefs, the patrons of Gloucester’s Shed stand were keen to remind him of him of this unfortunate sequence of events at every possible opportunity. Then in the 62nd minute, Hogg fielded a high ball in his own 22 and set off. He stepped past one Gloucester player, exchanged passes with Sam Simmonds before gleefully diving over the line, the ball firmly held in both hands. He then touched the ball down a second time just to be sure, a wide grin plastered across his face.

“I look on that now as a turning point,” Hogg told Telegraph Sport. The following week, Hogg scored another outstanding individual try in Scotland’s 17-0 victory away to Italy. He led by example again in the landmark 28-17 win over France at Murrayfield. His form for Exeter has also taken off having arrived as the club’s statement signing the previous summer. The 28-year-old has been one of the players of the restart heading into Sunday's Champions Cup quarter-final against Northampton Saints for which British and Irish Lions head coach Warren Gatland will be present at Sandy Park.

“At the start maybe I was putting too much pressure on myself to find my form,” Hogg said. “I was making the odd mistake and was not getting the best out of myself. This will not be far off my best rugby certainly. I can assure you it is the happiest I have been in a long time through many different factors.”

A key element was Hogg’s decision to quit social media – or at least hand it off to his management company – in the wake of those drops, over Ireland’s tryline and on his own tryline against England. Most people will be familiar with the nightmare of turning up to school without their clothes and all your classmates laughing at you. As Hogg testifies, this is a reality that any rugby player who makes a high-profile mistake has to live with and he believes it is having a corrosive effect on players’ performances on the big stage.

“Some people will say that social media doesn’t bother them but I have been involved in changing rooms and I have been guilty of it in the past where the first thing boys do after a game is go on their phones and check social media,” Hogg said. “People will say ‘I am not reading it’, but they are. I was guilty of it myself. I just wonder if boys in these massive games are playing within themselves because they are worried about the backlash that comes if something doesn’t come off.”

Hogg hastens to add that this is not the case at Exeter, where he says he has “the license to express yourself and have some fun”. Instead he points to Finn Russell’s pass of the century against England in 2018, a high-risk, high-reward play that could have easily resulted in an England interception and an inevitable social media pile-on. “The thing is people will not remember the four out of five times it does work,” Hogg said. “They will only focus on the one time it doesn’t work.”

Stuart Hogg of Exeter scores a try during the Gallagher Premiership Rugby match between Gloucester Rugby and Exeter Chiefs at on February 14, 2020 in Gloucester, England - GETTY IMAGES
Stuart Hogg of Exeter scores a try during the Gallagher Premiership Rugby match between Gloucester Rugby and Exeter Chiefs at on February 14, 2020 in Gloucester, England - GETTY IMAGES
Stuart Hogg scores for Scotland in Rome - PA
Stuart Hogg scores for Scotland in Rome - PA

Clearly being on social media has some benefits. Not everyone on Twitter is a troll. But when the abuse cascades on you like a waterfall it can leave you gasping for air. “I would bite back at people and try to prove them wrong and end up trying too hard,” Hogg said. “Coming off it, you are not reading the crap that is sent to you. The people’s opinions who matter are my family’s, my friends and those within the four walls of the changing room. Anyone else who has an opinion about me, yes they are entitled to it but I am also entitled to ignore it. I know when I have made a mistake. I don’t need every Tom, Dick and Harry pointing that out to me in public. If that makes them feel better about themselves then let them be. I just get on with it.”

Besides, there are enough trolls at Exeter for Hogg to deal with. Just days after Scotland had been knocked out of the World Cup by Japan, he turned up to find his locker plastered in Japan flags. Even if he has yet to undergo the club’s infamous initiation, he has been welcomed into the fold with open arms. There is no sense of looking back after leaving Scotland, even his daughter has already started to pick up a Devonian twang.

“I am fully anticipating all the kids ending up with English accents,” Hogg said. “They will be going to school here. It is something we are both prepared for. It is probably for the best. The amount of times I have to repeat myself in meetings or speaking to the boys, it might just be easier for them to have English accents.

“Overall, I am absolutely loving it. It was a big decision as a family to move away from everybody into the unknown. From a personal point of view and from a family point of view I feel we have made the perfect decision. I am absolutely loving learning new things on a daily basis and challenging myself against the best players in England.”

Rob Baxter readily admits that Hogg and his Scotland team-mate Jonny Gray were recruited to help Exeter take the next step in Europe having never previously gone past the quarter-finals. Typically, Baxter does his shopping in the lower reaches of the Championship and South Africa. Hogg was the first ready-made superstar Exeter recruited, rather than made.

Yet rather than feel restricted by that pressure, Hogg feels liberated to play the game on his own terms. “Rob will always give you the tools to be successful,” Hogg said. “He allows you to go out to play how you want to play and create highlight moments for yourself. I am not expected to pull a rabbit out of a hat every game because there are plenty of other boys in this squad who can do that. I have got a Henry Slade inside me and Jack Nowell outside of me, so how can I not perform?”