Stuart Hogg 'complying' with domestic abuse order

Stuart Hogg previously admitted domestic abuse and was given a community payback order

Former Scotland rugby union captain Stuart Hogg is complying with a supervision order imposed after he admitted abusing his estranged wife over five years but still needs to make progress, a court has heard.

The 32-year-old pleaded guilty to a single charge of domestic abuse of his ex-partner Gillian Hogg when he appeared at Selkirk Sheriff Court in November last year.

Sheriff Peter Paterson sentenced him to a community payback order with one year of supervision as an alternative to jail in January, and also banned him from approaching or contacting Mrs Hogg for five years.

A review of the order took place at Jedburgh Sheriff Court, which Hogg was excused from attending.

Hogg was sentenced at Selkirk Sheriff Court earlier this year

His lawyer Mat Patrick told the court: "We are just shy of three months into the order and the review report confirms that he is fully complying with the appointments, there have been no missed appointments.

"As far as progress is concerned, it looks like progress requires to be made but it is a 12-month order and is against the background of quite a difficult divorce which is ongoing at the moment and all the emotions that can come with that, and that has played a part.

"Obviously there is work to be done."

Sheriff Paterson said it was "not entirely surprising" that Hogg might feel "hard done by", but he needed to move on.

He said: "He is the one that pleaded guilty and he has to face the consequences of his actions and he has to move on from that."

The sheriff fixed a further review of the order to take place on 16 June.

He said: "If progress is satisfactory he will not have to attend, but if there is any difficulty he will have to attend."

Hogg was banned from approaching or contacting Mrs Hogg for five years in December when he appeared at Jedburgh Sheriff Court after he admitted breaching bail conditions by repeatedly contacting her in June, when on one night she received 28 texts from him.

He was also fined £600, with an additional £40 victim surcharge.

The former Glasgow Warriors fullback amassed a century of senior caps for his country and was involved in three British and Irish Lions tours.

He remains one of Scotland's all-time leading try scorers and was awarded an MBE in the 2024 New Year honours list for services to rugby union - which there have been calls to strip him of.

Hogg came out of retirement last summer to sign a two-year contract with Montpellier.