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Stuart Hogg breaks silence on Scotland team disciplinary breach
Scotland skipper Stuart Hogg has broken his silence over last weekend’s breach of team protocol which resulted in the full-back and five other players being disciplined for visiting a bar in Edinburgh without the permission of team management. Finn Russell, Ali Price, Darcy Graham, Sam Johnson, Sione Tuipulotu and Hogg all headed out on the town after they had arrived back in the Scottish capital following the round four Guinness Six Nations win over Italy.
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As soon as they became aware that the six players had gone out, Scotland management ordered the players to immediately return to the team hotel and they were subsequently disciplined. Hogg, Graham, Johnson and Price were still all named in the Scotland XV to start against Ireland in Saturday’s round five match in Dublin, with Russell dropped to the bench and Tuipulotu, a sub in Italy, omitted from the matchday 23.
It was only on Friday afternoon, after Scotland had completed all their pre-match media engagements, that news of the breach of protocol became public and it was understandably the dominant topic when Hogg appeared at his brief post-game media briefing in Dublin after Scotland had been beaten 26-5 by Ireland.
“We held our hands up, we knew we made a mistake and we just got on with making sure we prepared the best possible way,” he replied when first asked about being involved in the disciplinary breach. “It was a challenging week but we had one of our best weeks of preparation and really stuck together and got on with our jobs. That had a massive effect on how we went at this game and unfortunately, we weren’t able to back it up the second half.”
The matter wasn’t allowed to rest there, though, and Hogg was soon asked if he had a message for Scotland fans upset by what the six players had done last weekend. “The main thing for us is we concentrate on doing what we can. For us, we talk a lot about staying connected as a team – it’s the players, the coaches, the management that matters to us, everything else is irrelevant to me.”
That didn’t end the hot topic discussion as Hogg was next asked if he had apologised for his own involvement in the incident. “I did, I did. I held my hand up and said I made a mistake and it is something that will hurt me for a long, long time. But today I felt we played some good rugby at times and it made for a good game. The first 40 minutes was as good as we played. I’ll probably concentrate on that.
“What is out there is out there. For us, we just want everything to remain in-house. We will concentrate on putting in a fairly good performance that we are proud of for the vast majority of that game and we will talk a lot about building the squad for the summer tour and autumn internationals. That is all we are focused on.”
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Even then, the conversion was worked back to the now infamous bar visit, Hogg quizzed on whether the matter could ultimately affect his status as Scotland team captain. “I don’t know how many times I am going to say I apologised and put my hand up. I knew I had made a mistake.
“I am very disappointed with what happened, I can’t sit here and say that I am not disappointed. For me I was annoyed, I was frustrated but I can’t go back and change anything. I don’t want to really dwell on it. I appreciate what you are after here but you are not going to get it.”
As for the match in Dublin in which Scotland pegged Ireland to just a 14-5 lead until the hour-mark, Hogg added: “We are really frustrated with the outcome. The first half was probably some of the best rugby we played the whole campaign and we said all the right things at half-time but unfortunately the second half we just gave away too many penalties, coughed up the ball cheaply and compounded our errors.
“It is very disappointing and quite frustrating because we were in the game but it just shows you have to stay in every single moment in Test match rugby because against a top side like Ireland you are going to get punished.”
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Hogg had a fantastic chance early in the second half to eat into Ireland’s nine-point lead only to get tackled into touch by Hugo Keenan just short of the line. “A lot of good stuff happened in that game and unfortunately we’re picking out the negatives. I am disappointed with that. I could have put that under my belly and scored in the corner and on another day I probably do, but we are looking at five seconds of an 80-minute performance.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Good to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
19 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
7 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
19 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
7 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
7 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
26 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
19 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
26 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
19 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
84 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
7 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
19 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
14 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
19 Go to comments