THE British & Irish Lions loss could be Scotland's gain as Stuart Hogg, who was forced home early from the tour of New Zealand, says he is hitting all the markers for an early return to action after shoulder surgery.
Had he lasted the tour, he may well have salvaged some Scottish pride by playing in a Test, but the price would have been that he would not have had the operation on his shoulder until more than a month later than he did. There would be no chance at all of him being available for Scotland's November tests against Samoa, Australia and New Zealand.
Speaking at the launch of the Glasgow Warriors' three-year-shirt sponsorship deal with SP Energy Networks, who operate the electricity transmission and distribution network in southern and central Scotland, Hogg admitted that the shoulder had been playing up most of last season – the surgery was a case of "when", not "if".
"The physios and strength and conditioning guys worked incredibly hard with me," he said. "We took the decision to get it looked at after the summer – going into this season with a bad shoulder wasn’t what I was wanting. The target was the Llions tour – and we got there. We managed it with the target of finishing off the season and going on the Lions tour."
Unfortunately for Hogg, his summer tour was cut short by a facial injury – the upside being that he ended out having the shoulder surgery while the Lions were still in New Zealand. "I loved my time," he said "It was disappointing to leave but these things happen and I was their number one supporter when I got home.
"I though the boys did a terrific job. It’s just a shame it ended in a draw. Some will say that was a good result, but we were looking to win."
What the tour did produce for both Hogg, and Tommy Seymour, who finished as the tour's leading try scorer but failed to win a Test spot, was an understanding that the All Blacks can be pressured into mistakes and that Scotland should have the capacity to do that in November.
"It was clear from the tour that you can go toe to toe with them no problem," said Seymour. "That will give a lot of people confidence in terms of closing that perceived gap between northern and southern hemisphere rugby.
"They are very talented rugby players – they are the best in the world – but we went over there and got a draw. No one from the northern hemisphere teams will think we can't beat them."
After staying through to the end of the tour, Seymour is only just back in pre-season training – yesterday was his first session. While he is impressed by the progress made while he was away, he admits he has a lot of caching up to do, with both the playing style being introduced by Dave Rennie, the new head coach, and with trying to match the record-breaking fitness standards being set by his club-mates.
For Hogg, the great thing is just being able to run again after four weeks inactivity with his arm in a sling after the surgery. Now, he insists, he is taking it week by week. While he has been encouraged by progress so far, he cannot look too far ahead.
"It’s the first long-term injury I’ve had," he observed. "It’s another challenge in my career and I’m looking forward to getting back as quickly as I can."
Like Seymour, he is encouraged by events over the summer – in his case not just hints of vulnerability in the All Blacks but also based on what he saw when he joined the Scotland squad in Sydney for a few days and got a ringside seat to their win over Australia.
"They’re getting better game by game," he said. "There is a new coaching set up and the boys are really enjoying it. Everyone had smiles on their faces and looked like they were having fun, that’s the main thing.
"We had two good results. The Fiji game, little mistakes cost us. For us it’s the ability to back up these big wins. To beat Australia then lose to Fiji was a disappointment but the boys will take confidence that we can get these big results."
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