Stuart Hogg

Stuart Hogg announced in March 2023 that he would retire after that year’s World Cup, then quit outright on 9 July without playing in it. A year later he came out of retirement and signed for a French club.

Full-back at Montpellier, 1.83m and 93kg, and 34 years old.

Melrose produced him and Glasgow gave him a debut in February 2011. He was in the Pro12 team of the season by 2013, the youngest man to play 100 matches for the Warriors by 24, and on a contract worth 440,000 euros a year, the largest the Scottish union had given anyone.

Scotland capped him against Wales in February 2012 and he scored on his first start a fortnight later. He was voted the best player in the Six Nations in 2016 and again in 2017, reached fifty caps at 24, younger than any Scot before him, and captained the side from January 2020 until Gregor Townsend removed the job in October 2022 to take the weight off him.

Three Lions tours brought two Tests. He was uncapped on the 2013 trip behind Leigh Halfpenny, broke a bone in his face against the Crusaders in 2017 and went home, and started the first two matches against the Springboks in 2021.

Exeter took him after the 2019 World Cup and won the European Cup and the Premiership in his first season, beating Racing 92 and then Wasps. He signed for the Top 14 in the summer of 2024 and scored on his debut against Lyon that September.

He was arrested in Hawick in March 2024 and charged with threatening behaviour, arrested again that July for breaching his bail conditions, and arrested a third time on 9 September, charged by Police Scotland with stalking offences and further bail breaches. His trial was postponed to 4 November 2024 and he was released on bail.

A counter-attacking full-back of the first rank, and one of the two or three best Scotland have produced.