Bryan Easson Exclusive: You could tell from the start that Stuart was a very special talent - I’m so proud of what he achieved
.jpg "Stuart Hogg announced his retirement from the game at the beginning of July")
Stuart Hogg announced his retirement from the game at the beginning of July
©Scottish Rugby/SNS
It is just over a week since Stuart Hogg signalled his intention to hang up his boots with immediate effect, but it is now around 17 years ago that Bryan Easson first came across the rugby talent.
Hogg was just a teen then, but even at that young age Easson, now head coach of the Scotland women’s team, could see that he had something about him and had the ability to really go places.
In the last decade and a half or so Hogg, who turned 31 in June, certainly has gone places and will go down as a Scottish sporting great. Between 2012 and earlier this year, he turned out 100 times for his country, playing in two Rugby World Cups in 2015 and 2019.
He also went on the British & Irish Lions tours of 2013, 2017 and 2021. Club-wise, after coming through at Hawick RFC, he won the PRO12 with Glasgow Warriors in 2015 followed by lifting the European Champions Cup and Gallagher Premiership in 2020 with Exeter Chiefs.
In March, the full-back said that he would be stopping playing the professional game after the upcoming Rugby World Cup but following a period of reflection, Hogg decided to finish his career prior to the showpiece event in France due to the strain on his body.
Easson, 49, and Hogg are great friends and the former told TRU: "He was a mercurial talent that will be missed by Scotland.
"As a coach, I have had so much time for him over the years because he can do things that others can’t while he was always striving to get better. Off the pitch, we became good friends over time and I have always tried to be a sounding board and also helped him out whenever I can.
"Knowing what he has gone through and all of the ups and downs, to see Hoggy finally play Test rugby for the Lions in 2021 was amazing and just before that tour, he FaceTimed me [as part of a Vodafone sponsorship activation] to tell me that he was dedicating his Lions’ jersey to me.
"That was such a nice touch. I was taken aback and there was a tear in my eye on the call because we have been through a lot together and I’m so proud of what he has achieved."
The early days: "He was full of energy and mischief"
So, when did Easson first work with Hogg?
Well, as part of his job with Scottish Rugby at the time, he went down to the Borders a few years ago to work alongside Greig Oliver who so sadly passed away just a few weeks ago.
"We were working with some of the best young players in the region and I was helping to coach the Academy players who were based down there,” Easson explained.
"There were two players in particular I remember from that time and they were Hoggy and Robin Hislop [the prop who recently re-signed for Edinburgh Rugby after a spell down south and who is known as Bomber].
"For a young coach from Cupar in Fife who had spent my playing and early coaching days in various places such as Exeter and Inverness, going into real rugby country in the Borders was a bit of a culture shock and Hoggy and Bomber were real local lads who were full of energy and mischief.
"They were both 14 then, young pups who wanted to learn and I remember driving down for the first time and going through Hawick where Hoggy is from and then driving to Langholm to Bomber’s family home and the gate was not a gate as you would imagine it, but it was shaped like rugby posts and I had to drive through the posts
"By then I was aware - if I wasn’t before - just how keen on rugby the folk down that way are and Hoggy and Bomber were really keen too. Hoggy played for the Roxburgh Reivers representative team at under-15 level or so at the time and you could tell right from the start that he was just a very special talent.
"You knew that he was going to play for Scotland, but you also knew that there was something special about him and that he might go and become one of the best in the world.
"At the time he was just a kid, a bit of a cheeky chappy, but he worked hard and really honed in on what he had to do to improve. For example, he couldn’t pass off his left hand for toffee and that is all we did. We just passed and passed and passed and kept working at it. Even until recent times whenever I have seen him throw a bomb off his left hand in a game, I’ll message him afterwards and say ‘what’s going on?’ in a jokey way because we both know how much work we put in back in the day to get up to that standard.”
Age-grade honours: "He scored a try from his own line against England"
Easson then coached the Scotland under-17 team and Hogg was in the squad that was going down to a tournament at Millfield in England.
Just before the squad headed south, his great pal Richard Wilkinson passed away in an accident and Hogg had been in the car too, so the coaches were unsure whether he was going to go to the event or not.
"We would have understood if he had pulled out, but he wanted to go, he wanted to do it for his friend and Richard has been a massive driver in his career ever since," Easson explained.
"I remember when we were down at Millfield, Hoggy scored a try from his own line against England and I turned to [team manager] Rob Charters and said ‘this kid is something special’.
"I was then a Scotland under-20 assistant coach, so I was involved when he came up to that level, but it was always a case of when not if he would progress to the full squad."
The Scotland years: "At his best, he could unlock any defence"
As Easson stated, it was a case of when not if Hogg would make the step up to the full Scotland squad and, after scoring a cracker of a try for Scotland A against the England Saxons in 2012, he soon made his Test debut aged 19 off the bench away to Wales in the Six Nations.
"The try I mentioned that he scored for the under-17s, well he had a number of those special moments as he moved up through the levels and at his best over the years, he could unlock any defence," Easson said.
"As well as working on the weaker parts of his game as he entered the Test arena and went on, Hoggy has always worked on his strengths - his speed, his one-on-one stuff, his massive boot - to keep himself ahead of other players.
"His work ethic is second to none, you don’t play at the top level for 11 years or more if you don’t put in the hard yards. He was a mercurial talent that will be missed by Scotland and I am so pleased for him and what he has done.
"I saw him referred to as a superstar recently and that is certainly true while he is also a very good friend. When I was coaching him, we used to have competitions to see who could bench press the most, but going forward I think our competitions will involve seeing who can pick the best bottle of wine!
"Myself and Carolyn look forward to catching up with him and Gill soon and toasting his success.”
