STUART HOGG INTERVIEW:
STUART HOGG is brutally frank when asked how it all went wrong for Scotland at the World Cup.
He admits that he hasn’t been in his best form for well over a year. And, like the rest of the Scotland squad, deserves a kick up the backside for that early exit in Japan.
It’s certainly tough to hear him confess that Gregor Townsend’s team just don’t seem to be learning their lessons.
‘We talked a lot going into the World Cup about not beating ourselves,’ said Hogg as he reflected on the team crashing out at the group stages for only the second time in history. ‘About sticking to our game plan and making sure we nailed our detail individually and collectively.
‘We tried to play the fastest rugby. At times it’s on to do that and at times it’s not, we just got it wrong on a couple of occasions.
‘We coughed up the ball cheaply. We got turned over. With the energy we tried to put into our attack, when it doesn’t quite come off you have to switch quickly to defence, and we were caught far too narrow and gave away some soft tries.
‘For the last couple of years we’ve come away from games saying we’ll be better for it and learn from it but, ultimately, we’re still making the same mistakes — myself included.
‘I’ve not been anywhere near my best. It’s been a bit frustrating. But I’ll work incredibly hard to get back to where I want to be, along with the rest of the squad.
‘We could say we’ll be better for this World Cup, but there comes a time when you have to say: “That’s it, we’re simply not good enough”. We’re going to have to get a kick up the backside and get on with it. Individual errors are costing us and I have to say a lot of them have been by me.’
It hasn’t been easy for Hogg to escape the memory of Japan, and particularly the defeat to the hosts that sent the Scots home.
Walking into the Exeter Chiefs changing room on his return, he found makeshift Japanese flags all over the walls.
‘There must have been about 15 of them. I saw the funny side, it was good craic. It lasted a couple of weeks and I was a bit scared to take them down in case I got fined at the players’ meeting.
One day I came in and one of the leaders just ripped it off and said: “Fair play for keeping it up so long”.’
Hogg has settled in well at
Exeter since signing from Glasgow in the summer. He has three league games under his belt already and starts his first Heineken Cup match for them against La Rochelle in France today. He already has one eye on next week, however, when Exeter take on his former club at home.
The furthest he ever got in Europe during his nine years with Glasgow was the quarter-finals, where they twice lost to Saracens. He has high hopes of going further this season, although he’d have preferred not to be in the Warriors’ group.
‘What I said when I first heard we’d been drawn together can’t be repeated,’ smiled Hogg. ‘It was mainly the tweets coming my way from a few of the Glasgow boys. Ryan Wilson was getting stuck into me over the last few weeks in
World Cup camp. I would expect nothing else from Wilson.
‘It was always going to happen at some stage that we would be drawn against Glasgow. Ideally, I’d have liked a couple of years to find my feet at Exeter, but what will be, will be.
‘I’m concentrating first and foremost on La Rochelle. Hopefully, I can have a big say in what happens next weekend because I know a lot about the players and the structures and the way Glasgow want to play.
‘When I first arrived there we got to the semi-final of the league but had never achieved anything in Europe. It was massive in 2015-16 when we qualified for the quarters for the first time.
‘But Gregor (Townsend) has admitted he concentrated far too much on Saracens that weekend so that, when we got the ball, we didn’t really know what we were doing.
‘We probably shouldn’t have changed anything from what got us there. The last time we qualified, we went to Saracens and lost again. Here’s hoping Exeter and Glasgow can both qualify this season.’
Exeter have a great record when it comes to challenging for the Premiership, but in Europe they’ve only qualified once for the knockout stage in six attempts.
‘We want to win every trophy we can possibly win this season,’ said Hogg. ‘We’re looking forward to getting stuck into Europe. Our expectation is to qualify through the pool stage and see where things go after that.
‘I’ve been around long enough to know if you say you’re going to win things and it doesn’t come off then you look like an idiot, but we believe we can win trophies. I’m excited to play my part in that.’
Hogg hasn’t been with Exeter long enough to share some of the bitterness his team-mates must feel towards European champions Saracens for breaching the Premiership salary cap.
Those previous Glasgow defeats to Sarries may also stick in the craw, knowing what he knows now. If they do, Hogg isn’t saying.
With Saracens’ hefty points deduction, Exeter are now in pole position to finish top of the Premiership but the Scot concedes a title win would be hollow in the eyes of many.
‘You still have to play 22 games to win a trophy,’ he said. ‘We’re concentrating on that. I think if we win the league this year people would look at us and say it’s because Saracens are down there. But if they are still at the top we plan on beating them as well.
‘I’ve tried my best to stay away from it. For me to ensure I’m at my best and Exeter are at our best, we’ve not been concentrating on it at all.’
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