Allister Hogg (born 20 January 1983 in

Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

) is a Scottish

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

footballer who plays at either flanker or number eight formerly for

and vice-captain for

Newcastle Falcons Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...

Early life

He attended

Stirling High School Stirling High School is a state high school for 11- to 18-year-olds run by Stirling Council in Stirling, Scotland. It is one of seven high schools in the Stirling district, and has approximately 972 pupils. It is located on Torbrex Farm Road, ...

, Hogg has also played basketball for Scotland at under-16 level. He graduated from Telford College in Edinburgh with an HND in Sports Coaching & Sports Development.

Club career

Hogg signed his first pro contract with for

Edinburgh Rugby Edinburgh Rugby (formerly Edinburgh Reivers, Edinburgh Gunners) is one of the two professional rugby union teams from Scotland. The club competes in the United Rugby Championship, along with the Glasgow Warriors, its oldest rival. Edinburgh pl ...

in 2002 and went on to establish himself as a first team regular as well as an onfield leader of the team. Hogg was named Edinburgh's first team captain in the summer of 2007 (alongside Simon Cross) following major restructuring of the club and a time that several large name players left. He became a talismanic player for the club during the upheaval and played every game in his final season at the club when he departed for

in 2010. He played for Watsonian RFC in the 92nd Langholm Sevens competition. Despite being tipped to win the tournament and being 2009–10 'Kings of Sevens', Watsonians were beaten by a young Edinburgh University side. Despite their relegation from the Aviva Premiership Hogg signed a new contract with the club in May 2012. In the 2014–15 season, along with Mike Blair, Hogg became assistant coach of Ponteland Rugby Club. In 2018 Hogg announced his retirement from professional rugby at the age of 35. "I've had a good run," Hogg said of his career, which started with Edinburgh and saw him capped 48 times for Scotland.

International career

Hogg made his debut against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

in 2004, a match Scotland lost 23–10, aged 21. He has established himself as one of Scotland's best players. His pace, strength, skill, and work ethic have already gone some way to gaining him international recognition.

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

open-side flanker

Richie McCaw Richard Hugh McCaw (born 31 December 1980) is a retired New Zealand professional rugby union player. He captained the national team, the All Blacks, in 110 out of his 148 test matches, and won two Rugby World Cups. He has won the World Rugb ...

rated him as one of the best back rows in the game, shortly after he missed being selected for the 2005

British & Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

tour of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. Hogg's pace, power and work-ethic endeared him to Scottish fans and also led to him becoming one of the most reliable players in a setup that was all too often teetering on the edge. Hogg immediately cemented a spot in the Scotland setup following his debut. Often playing at openside to accommodate Simon Taylor, he was known for his support play that lead to many of his tries for the national team. Hogg was selected for Scotland's 2007 Rugby World Cup squad, whilst becoming the first Scotland forward in 20-years to score a hat-trick of tries in one match, when he plundered a treble during the 42–0 World Cup win over Romania in September 2007. Hogg continued to have an influence as Scotland improved throughout 2008, playing in both Tests as they registered a series draw in Argentina before packing down against the All Blacks and South Africa at Murrayfield during the autumn internationals. In January 2009 Hogg was called into Scotland coach Frank Hadden's squad for the 2009 Six Nations. His latest cap came during the 6 Nations Championship against match Wales on 8 Feb 2009. A particularly disastrous match for Scotland that they lost 13–26 where many of the players failed to perform including Hogg who had been moved to blindside due to a reshuffle of the pack caused by injury to Nathan Hines. This combined with competition from new players such as Alasdair Strokosch and John Barclay lead to Hogg being dropped from the team and playing no further part in the campaign. Despite a change of national coach Hogg was not recalled by

Andy Robinson Richard Andrew Robinson OBE (born 3 April 1964) is an English rugby union coach and retired player. He was the director of rugby at Bristol until November 2016. He is the former head coach of Scotland and England. From September 2019 to Dec ...

for Scotland duty, despite being a player that he had consistently turned to whilst in charge at Edinburgh. In Sept 2012, Newcastle coach Dean Richards, petitioned for Hogg's return to the national fold following several outstanding performances at the start of the season, including a hat-trick of tries against London Scottish. Hogg was recognised by Stirling Highland Games in 2014 as a famous born son of Stirling and offered him the honorary role as their 2014 Highland Games Chieftain.

References

External links

Edinburgh Rugby website

Scotland profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hogg, Allister 1983 births Living people People educated at Stirling High School Scottish rugby union players Scotland international rugby union players Rugby union players from Stirling Edinburgh Rugby players Stirling County RFC players Male rugby sevens players Rugby union flankers Rugby union number eights Newcastle Falcons players