Hogg retains great turn of speed despite putting on weight

Senior Sports Writer

Saturday 13 October 2012

Faster, stronger and more comfortable than ever in the elite rugby environment, Stuart Hogg is aiming to "explode" into action as he makes his first start of the season against Northampton Saints tomorrow.

Stuart Hogg's confidence is built on having taken the opportunity to work on his strength and speed. Picture: SNS

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Kevin Ferrie

The first teenager to start a Test match for Scotland since his mentor Jim Renwick 40 years earlier, Hogg's performances provided the only cause for celebration for Scottish supporters who had to endure the country's worst international season of all time in 2011/12.

Scotland having made the earliest World Cup exit in their history, his emergence for Glasgow Warriors while they were away, before subsequently entering the Test arena during what was only the second championship "whitewash" in 27 years, offered some hope for the future.Thereafter not even an ankle injury suffered two days ahead of Scotland's most recent Test match, which would later require surgery, would prevent him from helping to secure the victory that completed a desperately needed clean sweep of wins on their summer tour."I rolled the ankle two days before the Samoa game, so I was on the physio's bench for basically 48 hours before that," he explained. "I felt it settled down after that, but when I came back into pre-season the first few weeks were perfectly fine until I rolled it awkwardly when we started playing some fitness games at training, so it was back to square one."The physio staff and myself knew there was something wrong in there, so we had to see a number of specialists to see what was wrong. That's in the past now and all things lead on to this weekend and on to the rest of the season."With the sort of timing that is becoming his trademark however Hogg is, after two appearances off the bench, ready when his club needs him most as he returns to the Glasgow line-up at a crucial stage of the season and he believes he is ready to make a significant impact."Obviously last year was a dream season but it's a case of not being a one season wonder, so it's going to take a lot of hard work and time and effort for me not to do that," he said. "There is that little doubt in my mind about whether I am going to be as good as last season and that could maybe cause me to start getting worried and stuff, but I'm relaxed this year and looking forward to things. I'm not uptight, I'm not nervous, it's just about little things leading to the weekend so that I'm ready to explode onto the rugby field."His confidence is built on having taken the opportunity to work on his strength and speed. While he jokes that the six kilos he has put on might be indicative of doing the wrong things, visibly increased muscularity testifies to the work which, in more serious vein, he claims to have done in the gym."Obviously we had played a fair amount of games before I was back playing but during the off season I really worked hard on the weights and fitness wise, sitting on the bike for a long time, so when I came back I didn't feel too left behind. In the past couple of weeks being back playing has been great and as each game goes by I'll get fitter and fitter and hopefully I'll enjoy my rugby as much as I did last season."The biggest worry when players put on bulk is, of course, that it can affect them in other ways but Hogg looked as elusive as ever during last week's cameo in Cardiff and has honed his basic pace, working on that with the club's strength and conditioning team. "I'd probably say it was the quickest I've ever, ever been," he said of recent test times in which he recorded 1.62 seconds for 10 metres and 3.86 for 30.On all counts, then, last season's teenage sensation feels he is ready to improve on that form. Glasgow's forwards and midfielders have surely never had greater incentive to get their wide men into the game.

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Hogg retains great turn of speed despite putting on weight

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