STUART HOGG, the Scotland full-back, apologised again for his red card in Wales after he was handed a three-week ban.
The 21-year-old's RBS 6 Nations campaign ended in disgrace as he became only the third player to be sent off while playing for the national team. Hogg was dismissed after 23 minutes in Cardiff after smashing his shoulder into the jaw of Dragons fly-half Dan Biggar. Tournament organisers have suspended him until midnight on April 6.
Hogg first apologised to Biggar, his team-mates and referee Jerome Garces - who initially showed him a yellow card before upgrading the punishment after viewing a replay - following the match and also issued a press release apologising to the Scotland support.
Now the British and Irish Lion has made a second public apology as he signalled he would not appeal the disciplinary panel's sanction. "I'm very sorry," Hogg said. "I have let people down and apologise to my team-mates, the Scotland management and all Scotland supporters. I am disappointed to be missing three games but fully respect the committee's decision."
Hogg learned his fate after appearing before a disciplinary hearing in London and will now miss his club's next three RaboDirect Pro12 fixtures against Scarlets, Ospreys and Benetton Treviso. In a statement, the Six Nations disciplinary committee explained Hogg's punishment would have been longer had he not shown such remorse after the match.
The statement said that "it was in the mid-range of the IRB's sanctions for the type of offence, resulting in an entry-point of a five-week playing suspension" and that Hogg was to be given a "40% reduction" in sentence for his contrition.
Meanwhile, Scotland prop Geoff Cross has joined Glasgow Warriors on loan for the remainder of the season from Edinburgh. The 31-year-old is to provide injury cover in the front row, with Mike Cusack set for another spell on the sidelines.
"We're delighted to welcome Geoff into our squad," said Gregor Townsend, the Glasgow head coach. "We're getting an experienced tighthead to strengthen our front row as we push for a play-off spot."
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