Why Stuart Hogg considered walking away from rugby

Scotland fullback Stuart Hogg admits that he has considered walking away from rugby due to the abuse he receives playing the game.

Despite being Scotland captain, a three times British & Irish Lions tourist, a Heineken Champions Cup winner and widely regarded as one of the best fullbacks in the world, Hogg also revealed that he struggled with confidence and to deal with negative comments about his game.

In an interview with BT Sports’ Sarra Elgan, Hogg said he came close to packing in the game in exchange for a quieter life.

“I come across as a confident happy person but deep down, at times, I’ve struggled and I’ve hated it.

“I’ve actually been very close to thinking why am putting myself through all this stress and strains. My body is feeling absolutely horrendous. I’m getting dogs abuse at the weekend; like why am I doing it?

“There was a time a couple of years ago when I thought, why am I playing rugby? I’m constantly coming home, I’m in a foul mood with my wife and kids, all because some clown has said something about me and I’m like why am I doing this?

“Is it easier if I just walk away from the game and never have that again. Or do I suck it up and go, right, no matter what you do you’re going to get heat.”

Despite his troubles, Hogg and his young family have taken to life in Devon, where they spend much of their life in the great outdoors.

“We spend a lot of time on the beach. I’m in the sea most days. We spend a lot of time in the countryside on horses. We’ve settled really well.”

In 2020 Hogg along with teammates lifted the Heineken Champions Cup and the Gallagher Premiership, a club rugby high for the Scot who left Glasgow Warriors in 2019.

“You sit back and reflect on it all. It was absolutely tremendous and I loved it. Again, it was so unique that the week after, we go to play for the Premiership, and we win that as well. I’m thinking, I’m in dreamland. This is the best thing that could ever happen.

“The time I have had here, I’ve learned so much about myself as a player and a person, about my body, that I feel that I am probably in the best physical place I can be, the best mental place I can be.”

The last two seasons, however, Exeter have failed to hit the heights of performance of the double season and the 30-year-old reveals that it’s a problem club are actively looking to remedy.

“We’ve reflected on what went wrong. We flipped it on his head. How can we get better? Individually, collectively, as a club, how can we get better? We watched a few documentaries as a club as a squad. Man in the Arena, [about] Tom Brady, his mindset was absolutely tremendous in the way he’s been so victorious for years and then there’s been a massive dropoff.

"I come across as a confident, happy person. But deep down at times I've struggled."@StuartWHOGG_ opens up about the highs and lows of his @ExeterChiefs career in this powerful interview.

? Of course, the hairstyle gets a mention as well.

? @Sarraelgan#GallagherPrem pic.twitter.com/nO5oxclY6B

— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) October 7, 2022

“We almost felt it was the exact same as what we [Exeter Chiefs] had done, because we had been in six finals in a row. Won two of them and then made a complete dropoff.

“The word that he used that stuck with me was ‘reset’. It’s a perfect time to reset and think about how we can get better again. The whole mood of pre-season completely flipped on its head.

“We’re enjoying our rugby. The buzz that was in the stadium in that Leicester game was electric. Two weeks later we come back and score in the last minute of the game and I was thinking this is rugby, this is why we play it. The feeling after those games was incredible. That’s the feeling we want to have every single week.”