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Stuart Hogg to stand trial during Top 14 season
By Neil Fissler
Stuart Hogg's trial for alleged domestic abuse of his estranged wife will now take place three days after the opening game of the French in September following his latest appearance at Jedburgh Sheriff Court.
Former Scotland captain Hogg, 32, dressed in a blue jumper, submitted not guilty pleas at his latest brief court appearance earlier on Monday and had been due to stand trial at the end of the month.
The Lions full-back, who starts pre-season training with his new club Montpellier on Wednesday, denied behaving in a way that caused wife Gillian Hogg 'fear and alarm' over a seven-year period between 2017 and 2024.
He has signed on with Montpellier for two years with the option for a third season worth around £350,000 a season, which is less than the £580,000 a year he was earning with Exeter Chiefs before announcing his retirement.
Hogg saw Duhan van der Merwe equal his Scottish record of 27 international tries. He is accused of tracking his wife’s movements, monitoring her communication with others, and repeatedly trying to control family life.
His lawyer, Mat Patrick, told Sheriff Donald Ferguson that they had only “recently” received files from prosecutors and requested that the trial be postponed and that his client be excused from attending a pre-trial hearing on August 26.
“The trial is due to be held on July 30, but we have some difficulties with this date as we have only recently received the disclosure from the Crown.
“Our motion is to postpone the trial, and a new date has been identified. Mr Hogg takes up employment shortly in France so I would request his attendance at the next hearing is excused.”
It also means that Hogg’s sentencing for breaching his bail after admitting that charge earlier this month will now take place after Montpellier open their Top 14 programme with a home game against Lyon on September 7.
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Latest Comments
This comment has been made before. What’s the use of win ratios, and peaking between world cups and then never winning world cups?
Pretty likely it will be successful given who we’re playing this year. Which is another issue with win ratios. Scotland’s win ratio boosted by games against teams like US and Canada. SA against Portugal and Wales and teams like France who haven’t travelled to SA or NZ in sometime.
World rankings make much more sense because it factors who you beat relative to your own ranking.
In that regard SA has been the most dominant - 186 weeks at no. 1 to next best Ireland at 67 weeks.
Go to commentsOf all the world cups. 1995 and 2023 were by far the toughest. To beat France at home and then run into an England team out for revenge… top it off with a sprinkle of AB’s out for blood. Stuff of legend. Don’t forget we did it despite losing our best player Marx and our backup hooker in the first two minutes. With the whole wit Kant saga leading up to the game. Despite NZ having zero injuries and an extra day to prepare, with a run in over Argentina we still somehow managed. This team refuse to give up.
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