Stuart Hogg hints at retirement U-turn as former Scotland full-back reveals where he might play next season

100-cap icon hung up his boots last year but could return to playing with previous club

Stuart Hogg could return to playing with former club Hawick next season. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)

Stuart Hogg has revealed he is considering stepping out of retirement to play for hometown club Hawick next season.

The former Scotland full-back hung up his boots last year prior to the Rugby World Cup after conceding that his injury-afflicted body would no longer allow him to reach the high standards set across a glittering career.

At the time, in an interview with The Scotsman, Hogg insisted that he would not return to the amateur ranks to play for the Mansfield Park club at which he burst on to the scene as a lightning quick teenager and where his father John and brother Graham are still involved.

However, speaking on The Big Jim Show podcast, hosted by former Scotland second-row Jim Hamilton, the 31-year-old hinted towards a change of heart when asked if he was "100 per cent retired from rugby".

“I think I’ll play [but] I don’t think I’ll play professional," he said. "I might have a little run-out for Hawick next season and see how that goes."

Hogg won 100 caps for Scotland and is the country's record try scorer with 27 – three ahead of Darcy Graham. He also represented the British and Irish Lions while his club career included stints at Glasgow Warriors and Exeter Chiefs, where he won the Champions Cup.

“Will I play professionally again? Probably not,” he added. “Could I have taken a sabbatical? Maybe I could have. But I didn’t want to be in the position of going: ‘I’m going to take this period off and maybe come back’. I needed clarity that I am completely out of it. All in or all out. I couldn’t face sitting now thinking: ‘I’m going to have to continually train to be in a good shape to then come back, I’m going to have to always work on my skills’.

“So, do I do that? Or do I just pull the plug completely, and I thought … well … there wouldn’t be a club in a situation to give me a sabbatical and still pay me money.

“Could I have gone about it a different way? Potentially. But the decision now is that I am retired and I stand by that … physically and mentally I wasn’t there."