Hogg named Scotland U23 Nines captain

Drew Darbyshire

Matt Hogg has been named Scotland captain for the Commonwealth Under-23 Nines Championships next month.

The Championships will be held in Moreton Bay, near Brisbane, this February.

The Edinburgh Eagles star hails from North Berwick on the east coast of Scotland and has made nine appearances for Scotland Under-19s.

He also had an impressive Student World Cup campaign in July and was voted Scotland Students Player of the Year by head coach Nathan Graham and the rest of his management team.

Hogg has experience of being a leader, having skippered the Bravehearts’ Under-19s side to three wins out of four in 2017.

On being named captain, Hogg said: “I’m hugely honoured and excited to captain the team at such a prestigious tournament.

“I’ve had some experience of being captain in the Scotland set up with the U19s but this opportunity is the highlight of my rugby career so far.

“I’m now just excited to meet up with the squad and get stuck into our preparation and pulling on the Scotland jersey in the tournament.

“Considering I only started playing rugby league 2 years ago, I’m very proud of what I’ve achieved and it just shows that if you put the effort in and are willing to learn you’ll get the rewards and I hope that the tremendous experiences that I have had so far playing rugby league for Scotland acts as an inspiration to more young rugby players in Scotland to give rugby league a go.”