The Rob Baxter verdict on the shock Stuart Hogg retirement call

Exeter boss Rob Baxter has given his reaction to Monday’s shock decision by Scotland international Stuart Hogg to retire from rugby at the end of the 2023 Rugby World Cup. The 30-year-old joined the Chiefs in 2019 but rather than extend his career with the Gallagher Premiership club into 2023/24, he has decided that he will finish up playing in Devon in May and will then wrap things up with Scotland in October.

Baxter admitted he was initially surprised when Hogg originally revealed his retirement plan but when it was explained to him that the Test-level centurion felt his body wasn’t any longer fully capable of performing to the world-class level he is known for, the club director of rugby was supportive of the conclusion.

Appearing at his weekly media briefing ahead of this Sunday’s Heineken Champions Cup round-of-16 game at home to Montpellier, Baxter said: “To be fair to Stuart, he kept me informed of the decision-making process. We were waiting on the timing of the announcement but we kind of knew the scenario.”

Asked by RugbyPass how Hogg will be remembered at Exeter, the club he has represented 66 times, Baxter replied: “I’d like to think he would be remembered as one of the guys that tipped that balance towards us winning the Heineken Champions Cup because that is ultimately where we got to with that group of players.

“It was a group of players we made a concerted effort to build and improve and grow and develop over quite an extended period of time and then with various things happening around salary cap (being increased at the time) and other things that happened, we got to add a couple of international quality players that kind of topped off the group and allowed us to perform to the peak of our abilities.

“That is kind of what Stuart’s role was, to come in and help us finish off those scenarios. That is what he did extremely well and that is what he will be remembered for more than anything else. At the day of the day, the guy was on the podium when we won the Premiership and won the Champions Cup. You don’t need to be remembered for more than that sometimes and that was what he helped us to do.”

Not that it was all plain sailing for Hogg at Exeter, as he was benched for the 2021 Premiership final versus Harlequins just weeks before he bounced back to be a starter in the British and Irish Lions Test series in South Africa. And in the last year, he also had to grapple with losing the Scotland captaincy.

“It is an interesting thing from the outside, people can always read things into what goes on within teams and within squads and nine times out of 10 there is not really any issue, but it always looks like there must be.

“Sometimes it can be just very simple, that this guy is off form, this guy is not quite on form, this is reasons for selection, reasons that change things. It’s not always as straightforward as they seem and sometimes, they are a bit more complex than that.

“As far as I can concerned, Stuart has done everything we [Exeter] have asked him to do when he has been here. He has had a difficult time but let’s face facts – he is a very proud Scotsman. It was an incredible thing for him to be given the Scotland captaincy and that being taken away was a challenge for him.

“It was a definite challenge for him, and he has come through that and his Scotland performances have shown that, so he has faced some pretty tough challenges. He has made that call now that at the end of the day, rugby is less enjoyable for him purely because of the physical prep it is taking.

“He is someone who a key part of playing has always been an enjoyment factor and if that is something that is getting tougher because of his physical condition, it takes a lot out of the whole point of playing rugby and I think that is really the decision that Stuart has come to.”