Stuart Hogg was a world class Scottish rugby player who now has to relocate his moral compass

01/09/2025 11:35 AM

The former national rugby union captain has been spared jail for the domestic abuse of his estranged wife, Gill after courts painted a grim picture of his off-pitch behaviour

Scotland has not always been blessed with rugby players of genuine world class but prime-time Stuart Hogg was a rare exception. At the height of his powers he was the Six Nations Player of the Year in successive seasons in 2016 and 2017, mixing acceleration and attacking intent with a just-try-and-stop-me attitude that set him apart from the average workaday pro.

The talented lad from Hawick was a big fish in a series of smallish pools – the Borders, Scottish rugby, Exeter – and grew accustomed to being hailed as king of his local oval-ball castle. While, behind closed doors, not being entirely the man his many fans thought him to be.