Borders rugby hero Stuart Hogg’s comeback as player reported to have been put on hold by injury

The Hawick 32-year-old signed up with French Top 14 side Montpellier Herault in June and had been in pre-season training since mid-July but he’s now reported to have been sidelined by an injury.

French newspaper L’Equipe reports that the former Scotland captain, Hawick head coach Graham Hogg’s younger brother, has torn a calf muscle in training and could be out of action for up to six weeks, though that’s yet to be confirmed by his club.

If his comeback is put on the back-burner for another month and a half, he’ll miss the start of the new Top 14 season on Saturday, September 7.

Montpellier host Lyon that day and they’re away to Perpignan seven days later and at home to Toulouse a week after that.

Full-back Hogg’s last competitive game was back on April 30, 2023, as a replacement for Exeter Chiefs during their 47-28 Investec Champions Cup semi-final knockout away to La Rochelle in Bordeaux.

The Borderer retired from both club and international rugby following that game, bringing the curtain down on a career including 100 caps for Scotland, saying that he didn’t feel his body was up to carrying on, but he reversed that decision this summer by agreeing what’s reported to be a two-year deal with Montpellier, with the option of an additional year.

The former Ayr and Stirling County player’s been signed as injury cover for Anthony Bouthier after the eight-times-capped French international, also 32, suffered a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in April, an injury expected to keep him out of action into next year.

The French outfit are only his third professional club after spells with Glasgow Warriors from 2010 to 2019 and Exeter from 2019 to 2023.

Hogg, a TNT Sports pundit of late, is Scotland’s fourth most-capped player of all time, his century of international appearances thus far having been outdone only by Kelso’s Ross Ford with 110, Gala’s Chris Paterson with 109 and Sean Lamont with 105.

He’s also skippered his country more often than anyone else but for Jedburgh’s Greig Laidlaw and Buckinghamshire-born David Sole, having been given the captain’s armband 22 times to Laidlaw’s 40 and Sole’s 25.

Until recently, he was Scotland’s joint top try-scorer of all time, but his tally of 27 was overtaken by Duhan van der Merwe by one during the Scots’ 31-19 summer tour victory away to Uruguay at the end of last month.