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Stuart Hogg will miss the start of 2024/25 Top 14 season – report
By
Liam Heagney
Stuart Hogg’s comeback has suffered a setback, with media in France reporting that an injury will see him miss the start of the 2024/25 season with Montpellier. The ex-Scotland captain announced in July that he was coming out of retirement and had signed a medical joker deal to move to the French Top 14.
That announcement was made a year after he brought forward the date of his originally scheduled retirement. Hogg has stated in early 2023 that he would finish as a player at the Rugby World Cup. However, that October sign-off instead took place in July last year when he revealed he was retiring with immediate effect after slowing down on the training field with the Scots.
Upon retirement, Hogg immediately went into TV punditry, signing a deal to work with TNT Sports. However, he eventually came around to the idea of ending his retirement from playing, and it was four weeks ago that Montpellier began pre-season training with Hogg following a difficult 2023/24 campaign where they needed to defeat Grenoble in a play-off to avoid relegation to the Pro D2.
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Their new season, though, will now get underway without new signing Hogg, who could be sidelined for a six-week period. A L’Equipe report read: “According to our information, Stuart Hogg will miss the start of the season with Montpellier.
“A summer recruit of the MHR, the Scottish full-back (32 years old, 100 caps), who had ended his career a year ago before the World Cup, was injured in training. After a good recovery – the MHR returned to the field on July 17 – and interesting physical signs, Hogg suffered a torn calf.
“The average time of unavailability for such an injury being around six weeks. Hogg will therefore miss the start of the Top 14 season, and in particular the reception of LOU in the opening match on September 7. The Scot signed with the MHR as a medical joker for Anthony Bouthier, the victim of a ruptured cruciate ligament in a knee at the end of April who is not expected to return to the field before the beginning of 2025.”
