Stuart Hogg: ‘I’ve had half of Exeter tweeting me saying I’m not as good as Santi Cordero’

Interview: Stuart Hogg knows he has big shoes to fill at Sandy Park but the Scotland full-back is embracing his new challenge chasing the Gallagher Premiership title with Exeter Chiefs

Stuart Hogg is enjoying his new chapter in Exeter (Getty)

The growth of the Exeter Chiefs is one of the great sporting stories of the last 15 years. Lifted out of the Championship as outside bets in 2010, they enter their 10th season in the top tier of English rugby having visited four consecutive finals behind a tight-knit squad built on youth and integrity.

They are the favourites to lift their second Premiership title at the end of this season, and, in the wake of the Saracens salary cap news, their rise only looks more impressive. Their three Premiership final defeats have all come against Saracens.

Yet for all the domestic growth and success, Exeter have only once gotten out of their Champions Cup pool. As such, the reasons for this disconnect have been agonised over and analysed, be it a failure to adjust to referees, the lack of a Plan B when the highly effective and efficient latching game is stalled, or a pure issue of mentality in big European fixtures. Perhaps all are true – Exeter have never progressed beyond the quarter-finals.

There is hope that the arrival of Stuart Hogg will help change that. Hogg joins as one of the world’s best full-backs, a frightening open-field runner and fine defender with real intelligence to his play. He is a marquee addition for the club, a real coup and a signing that perhaps they might not have made two or three seasons ago.

For Hogg, it is a new challenge at the end of a disappointing World Cup for both him personally and Scotland. The full-back moved from a very successful Glasgow Warriors side that looked to ready to challenge at the highest level again, but speaks of the attractive chance to try a different league, to push himself and take an opportunity that might not have come up again.

“The records of what they have done in the last four years in terms of four consecutive finals is obviously enough to get you there,” Hogg says ahead of Exeter’s opening Champions Cup pool game against La Rochelle.

“But for me, the biggest thing that attracted me to Exeter was that nobody wants to leave. People that have been at the club have nothing to say but positive things. look at Jack Nowell, Henry Slade, Luke Cowan-Dickie, they want to stay at the club. They don’t want to go anywhere else.

“That’s a big thing for me. I am going to an environment to learn and improve both on and off the field and become a better person. We believe we are the best club in England.”

Hogg replaces Argentine magician Santiago Cordero, a similarly skilled back-three runner with fleet feet that flashed throughout his time at Sandy Park.

Cordero departs for Bordeaux with his reputation enhanced during his stint at Exeter, and while Hogg is more than capable of making a similar, or indeed greater, impact, supporters are certainly making sure he understands the void he has to fill.

“I’ve had half of Exeter tweeting me saying I’m not as good as Santi Cordero!” Hogg says with a smile. “He is really good. Every time he was performing last season I’d get a little tweet sent my way saying: ‘Disappointed to see Santi Cordero leaving. Stuart Hogg better be bloody good!’”

The timing of Hogg’s arrival means he has come into a squad still processing the Saracens revelations. In essence, everything the two-timed defending European champions achieved is not thrown into doubt, with certain figures, including Exeter chief executive Tony Rowe, suggesting that their Premiership titles should be stripped.

Hogg and Scotland endured a difficult World Cup (PA)

Hogg, who would not be in favour of players’ salaries being publicly revealed as it is understood some other players would be, says his new teammates are undoubtedly disappointed by the news, but keen to focus on their on-field pursuit of success this season.

“I’ve tried my best to stay away from it. For me, to make sure I’m at my best and Exeter are at our best, we’ve not been concentrating on it at all. We’ve been looking at ourselves and it’s pretty irrelevant for what we want to do because first and foremost we’re concentrating on seeing what we can do in this league. It’s pretty big news for everyone but it doesn’t really concern me.

“I think everyone at the club is a bit disappointed with how things have gone. Exeter have been in the last four Premiership finals and they’ve played against Saracens three times and been beaten by them three times so there is a bit of hurt. But it’s hard for me to comment having not been there. We’re just concentrating on what we can do this season and making sure that we’re at our best to win trophies.”

But would any potential success this season be caveated by Saracens’ likely point deduction?

“You still have to play 22 games to win a trophy. For us, we’re just concentrating on that. I think if we were to win the league this year everybody would look at us and say it’s because Saracens are down there. But if Saracens are still at the top we plan on beating them as well.

“Everybody is going to have an opinion, everybody is entitled to that opinion but for us we’ll make sure we’re at our best and hopefully lifting a trophy at the end of the season.”

Exeter begin their Champions Cup campaign with a tough trip to a raucous Stade Marcel-Deflandre and a battle with La Rochelle, with Hogg in line for his European debut after being named to start at 15. He will also return to Glasgow with his new side after Exeter were drawn in Pool 2 with the Warriors, as well as the rising might of Sale Sharks.

If Exeter’s plan for European triumph is to prove successful, then they will need to begin well. With Hogg in tow, and everyone rather ready to focus their efforts on the pitch, then they might just lay down a marker at La Rochelle this weekend.

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