Glasgow Warriors made a further major investment in the rugby futures market yesterday by completing the signing of Stuart Hogg on a long-term contract that will keep him at the club until the next World Cup.
The teenager has made a fine start to his career and having only been on apprentice terms until now this three-and-a-half year deal is his first full professional deal.
It is a move that demonstrates the new management's determination not to repeat the sort of mistake that saw Hogg's former Scotland Under-20 club-mate Mark Bennett snatched from under the Warriors noses by French side Clermont Auvergne a year ago.
"Securing Stuart Hogg on this length of contract sends out a strong message that we want to keep our best home-grown talent here to develop the team and achieve success," said Nathan Bombrys, who was appointed managing director of the club just last month.
"Stuart has had a very encouraging start to the season and we felt it was absolutely necessary to reward him for this form and get him tied down for the foreseeable future. In advance of one of our biggest games of the season against Edinburgh on Sunday, we couldn't have asked for a better pre-match lift."
Nor could the player himself. "I'm hugely excited to have signed a full professional contract and to know I'm going to be part of the club for at least the next three and a half years," he said. "It's a great place to be, with lots of positive things happening on and off the field in terms of player signings and the move to Scotstoun next season.
"We're in the fortunate position of having a lot of quality backs at the club, and I've taken a massive amount from training and playing with them. I'd also like to acknowledge and thank the coaching staff, especially Iain Monaghan, for the work they've done with me.
"I'm learning all the time and I'll continue to work extremely hard to keep developing as a player."
Hogg's development is set to continue this weekend when he is switched from full-back, where he has been learning his trade, to his preferred role at outside centre for the 1872 Cup decider against Edinburgh.
"I played most of my rugby at 13 before coming to the Warriors so it's something I'm excited about and comfortable with," he said.
"It maybe gets me a wee bit closer to the action and I'm looking forward to teaming up with Graeme Morrison. He's been fantastic with me since I came here and in terms of people to have alongside me on Sunday I couldn't have asked for better."
That desire to get him ever more involved is an indication of the faith Sean Lineen, the Warriors head coach, has in the youngster.
"Stuart is an outstanding prospect who has already served clear notice of his ability to thrive in both the RaboDirect PRO12 and Heineken Cup," said Lineen.
"He's got a fantastic attitude and character and shows a great appetite for improvement. It will be a real pleasure to keep working with him to ensure he fulfils his exciting potential."
A virtual ever-present so far this season, Hogg claimed the Heineken Man of the Match award after the recent victory over Montpellier at Firhill and is the seventh of the club's rising stars to agree new terms in the past three months, joining Chris Fusaro, Ryan Grant, Rob Harley, Ruaridh Jackson, Duncan Weir and Ryan Wilson.
British and Irish Lions scrum-half Chris Cusiter has also extended his contract, while experience has been brought in with the signing of Samoan winger David Lemi and Scotland international Rory Lamont whose brother Sean will join him at the club next summer.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article