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Latest twist has emerged in the Stuart Hogg return-to-play saga
By Liam Heagney
Another twist has emerged in the saga that is Stuart Hogg and his rugby retirement, this time linking him to a playing comeback in France just weeks after RugbyPass suggested that Newcastle were interested in the soon-to-be 32-year-old former Scotland full-back, something the Falcons denied was the case.
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It was last July when he brought forward his planned retirement by three months, claiming that he didn’t have it in him to play for his country at the Rugby World Cup due to injury having announced earlier in the year that he was quitting and wouldn’t be seeking a 2023/24 contract extension at Exeter.
Hogg soon re-emerged as a TV rugby pundit, linking up with TNT Sports, but he has been absent from the screen in recent times following some well-documented upheaval in his personal life.
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It was May 17 when RugbyPass reported that Hogg, Scotland’s all-time record try-scorer and a 2019/20 double-winner with the Chiefs, ‘had been spotted in Newcastle’ where he spoke about a potential retirement-ending deal.
The Falcons denied that any such meeting ever took place and that recruiting the former full-back was a total non-runner.
"I absolutely hated it… but there was method in the madness."
– Stuart Hogg, with Liam Heagney ???, on being an ex-player, horse riding, @rugbyontnt TV punditry, and anguished last few months at Exeter. #GallagherPrem #EXEvGLO
Click below for more ??https://t.co/1Q5zI9PgFU
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 19, 2023
It has now emerged that Hogg’s comeback could happen in France as a media report has linked him with Montpellier, the Top 14 strugglers who face a relegation/promotion play-off to guarantee their spot in next season’s top-flight.
A Midi Olympique report read: “If Montpellier is not yet assured of its presence in the Top 14 next season, the club remains on the offensive on the market.
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“According to our information, it could make one of the most striking and daring recruitments of the season after offering a contract to Scottish star Stuart Hogg.
“The MHR is in advanced contact with Hogg, the Scottish star with 100 caps who has been retired from the field for a year.
“The talented No15, voted best player of the Six Nations in 2016 and 2017, had decided to hang up his boots in the middle of the preparation for the World Cup last July, saying he was “exhausted, physically and emotionally”.
“His post-rugby period has blackened the columns of a few tabloids across the Channel, between marital disputes and online harassment. With this page turned, the hypothetical return of Stuart Hogg to the pitch took over as a topical topic during the spring…
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“The Montpellier challenge is about to change the game. The MHR directors sniffed out a market opportunity like few others when they were looking for a professional full-back to compensate for the long-term absence of Anthony Bouthier.
“He was the victim of a ruptured cruciate ligament in a knee at the beginning of May. Stuart Hogg would sign as a medical joker with the 2022 France champion.”
