World-class Hogg can be a Premiership great says Weir
WING-HEELED full-back Stuart Hogg can be one of the Premiership’s greatest ever signings at Exeter next season, predicts Scotland colleague Duncan Weir.
Exeter pulled of a huge coup by snaffling the British & Irish Lion from amid interest from other top clubs and Worcester No.10 Weir, who played with Hogg (right) at Glasgow, told The Rugby Paper: “It’s a brilliant move for him and he’s chosen a great club in Exeter.
“It’ll really suit his style of play and you’ve seen how dangerous he is if you give him any time and space on the ball. He’ll cause defences here some headaches.
“He’ll be a great asset to the league because he genuinely is world-class and when you see some of the All Blacks and South Africa guys coming over who are superstars, I think Stuart’s right up in that pecking order and merits the same respect those guys have.”
Weir, meanwhile, is aiming to rekindle his own international career ahead of the World Cup by guiding Worcester towards Premiership safety.
The 27-year-old schemer, capped 27 times, said: “It was good to be back involved in the squad for the November Tests and I have a huge desire to play for my country.
“Finn Russell’s on fire at the moment and there’s competition from Adam Hastings and James Lang, so all I can do is keep playing well for Worcester.
“Having a good run of games has really helped. I’ve been allowed to be the playmaker and boss here and I’m enjoying myself.
“I’m not trying to prove any points, I’m just trying to improve myself and the team, and that passion to play Test rugby will not go away easily.”
Worcester, currently 11th in the Premiership but just eight points off the top six, face a critical run of games during the Six Nations.
With matches against Harlequins, Leicester and Exeter imminent, Weir said: “It’s a massive block of games when we can maybe field a stronger team than some of our opponents, who will have some superstars missing.”
Coming from the PRO14, Weir has never experienced a relegation dogfight and admits to having mixed feelings over the issue of ring-fencing.
He explained: “There’s huge pressure and everyone wants to play in the Premiership, but at the same time it’s brilliant for the consumer to see such a close fight. “There’s no team that’s just the battering ram for the others week-to-week, but when you’re in that bottom half you can’t allow chances to go missing. “It’s my first year down here so I’m not really sure about the ring-fencing debate, but maybe people will lose jobs if you go down to the Championship and the revenue is certainly not the same when you’re in that competition. “From a Worcester point of view, we’re hoping for a few more wins so we don’t have to go down to the final few games.” Weir believes Worcester have the firepower to survive, adding: “My partnerships with Francois Hougaard and Ryan Mills are going well and in Bryce Heem, Chris Pennell and Josh Adams, we have a back-three that does damage. “If we backup our wins, we believe we can be a top six team.”