Tour mix really easy, says Hogg

No longer the cub, Stuart Hogg says mixing four nations together in the Lions camp is really easy as the Scottish fullback plots to influence the New Zealand tour a great deal.

As the youngest member of the Lions squad that toured Australia in 2013, Hogg was entrusted with the task of maintaining one of the team’s iconic traditions by carrying Billy, the soft toy Lion, everywhere he went.

Hogg was offered no sympathy when claiming Billy had induced his hay fever in Australia because of his long mane, but now the responsibility of chief lion keeper falls on England lock Maro Itoje as the youngest Lion who’ll tour New Zealand.

The 24-year-old Scot, who’s been the Six Nations player of the tournament for the last two years running, is likely to be more prominent in Warren Gatland’s plans when preparing to tackle the All Blacks after not featuring in tests against the Wallabies four years ago.

Hogg insisted integrating everyone together wasn’t an issue after four years of heated battles with one another in domestic and international arenas.

‘‘We’ve got huge respect and admiration for ever player. Every- one’s got a job to do and the final goal for us it to win a test series, so everybody’s on the same page,’’ Hogg said.

‘‘We’ve had a couple of weeks [together] and the boys have got to know one another. There will be more integrating over the next week and it’s really easy to gel.’’

Hogg is rooming with English winger Anthony Watson, who’s already complained about the Scot’s snoring, as the Lions base themselves near Dublin before flying to New Zealand next Monday.

‘‘It’s starting to feel real. On the last tour, I was really young and inexperienced and I didn’t have a huge influence on the tour,’’ Hogg said. ’’I’ve learned a great deal since then and I believe I’m in a good place.’’

Hogg won’t be burdened by carrying to Billy to every training session, every weights session, every function and every bus trip.

But he will make life hard for Itoje because the punishment and fines for losing Billy are severe.

Hogg unfortunately lost sight of Billy a lot. ’’He’s pretty much attached to your hip. For a stuffed toy to go walkabouts is pretty weird, but for some reason he seems to go hiding every now and then,’’ Hogg said.

Despite never touring New Zealand, Hogg is familiar with Kiwi teams as an ardent fan of watching Super Rugby and particularly the Chiefs, with Dave Rennie becoming his coach at Glasgow later this year.

Hogg re-signed with Glasgow when he heard Rennie was taking the reins from Gregor Townsend, who becomes Scotland coach in June.

Hogg was coy when asked why just three Scots - himself, Tommy Seymour and Greg Laidlaw - were among the 41-man Lions squad despite Scotland’s best Six Nations performance in recent memory, which included excellent wins over Ireland and Wales.

But they’re representing more than Scotland. They’re representing Britain and Ireland. ’’We’ve got a job to do and that’s to help the Lions win a test series,’’ he said.

‘‘That’s purely our focus and we’ll be going out to make our nation of Scotland proud, but everyone in the British Isles and Ireland as well.’’