Scotland to miss Hogg as daunting World Cup looms

EDINBURGH : Scotland’s daunting task at the Rugby World Cup in France in September will not be made any easier by the sudden retirement of former captain Stuart Hogg, his long-standing team mate Finn Russell said on Monday.

Hogg announced his decision at the start of July, soon after Scotland began their World Cup preparations, saying his body could no long take the strain.

“It's different without him in the camp to be honest,” Russell told a virtual news conference. “But at the same time, it does give other boys the chance to step up, and be the next fullback and secure his jersey.”

Hogg, who earned 100 caps for Scotland, and Russell played against each other when they were as young as eight-years-old and played together for Glasgow.

“What Hoggy brought, he has so much experience at the top level so I was able to bounce questions off him and interact really well. We got on really well.”

But Russell was still positive about Scotland’s chances in a tough Pool B, where they start against holders South Africa on Sept. 10 before facing Tonga, Romania and Ireland.

"I think we just got to go game by game, everyone knows what we've got coming up against us. We've got to prepare ourselves over the next three four weeks and get ourselves in as good shape as possible to take on South Africa. Two years ago we ran them really close and it was just the last 15 minutes they kind of pulled away,” he said.

“I see it as challenge and I'm looking forward to it. The opening game is at Marseille, I have never played at that stadium but I have heard it’s amazing. It’s the biggest stage and in a country that loves rugby so it will be great fun.”

TOUGH TEST

Russell is expected to feature on Saturday when Scotland host France in their second warm-up