Carl Hogg to link up with Dean Ryan at Worcester

Carl Hogg will team up with Dean Ryan at Sixways. Picture: Getty

Worcester have made an official approach to Gloucester for Hogg’s services and it is now with the clubs to reach an agreement on the remaining year of Hogg’s contract to reunite the former Cherry and Whites coaches at Sixways.

The 43-year-old former Melrose, Edinburgh and Scotland back rower turned to coaching in 2003 after hanging up his boots at Leeds. He started with Stuart Lancaster, now the England coach, and Tony Stanger at the Leeds academy. He left to study sports coaching at Brunel University and coach the London Welsh forwards before Sir Ian McGeechan, then SRU director of rugby, offered him an assistant coach role with Frank Hadden at Edinburgh.

The Borderer continued working with Todd Blackadder when Hadden moved to the Scotland post and, in 2006, was persuaded by Dean Ryan to join him and Bryan Redpath at Gloucester. The trio steered Gloucester out of troubled times and back to the top of the Premiership in 2007 and 2008, where they lost to Leicester in a final and semi-final, and reached the Heineken Cup quarter-finals. Redpath and Hogg also led a winning LV= Cup campaign.

Hogg remained at Kingsholm when Redpath quit for Sale last summer and has been a valuable right-hand man to Nigel Davies. However, The Scotsman understands that Ryan, who was Scotland’s forwards coach for the recent RBS Six Nations, now wants Hogg as his head coach after taking on the director of rugby post at Sixways. Hogg was also approached by the SRU to return to Edinburgh and work with Stevie Scott, the interim chief, but he turned the offer down.

Hogg, a nephew of former Scotland coach Jim Telfer, has long stated that he wishes to garner the necessary experience at as high a level as possible outside Scotland before returning to be involved with the national  set-up.