Glasgow Warriors hooker is ambitious to establish himself as Scotland’s first choice

High profile departures mean he is now the most senior man in his position at Glasgow Warriors

Gregor Hiddleston is now the senior hooker at Glasgow Warriors and has ambitions to establish himself as Scotland’s first choice.

Gregor Hiddleston takes the ball into contact against Fiji during a Nations Championship match at Murrayfield in July. It was the hooker's first start for Scotland. | SNS Group / SRU

placeholder image — Gregor Hiddleston takes the ball into contact against Fiji during a Nations Championship match at Murrayfield in July. It was the hooker's first start for Scotland. | SNS Group / SRU

The Dumfries man won his first cap in the summer, making a try-scoring debut off the bench in the win over Argentina in Cordoba, and was also involved in the next two Nations Championship games, against South Africa and Fiji, starting the latter.

Gregor Townsend has a fairly deep talent pool of hookers from which to choose but Hiddleston has forced his way into the conversation. And with Ewan Ashman and George Turner missing the start of the season through injury, the chance is there for him to push himself forward when Scotland resume their Nations Championship campaign next month with home games against New Zealand, Australia and Japan.

“I'd love to be involved again,” said Hiddleston. “It was an unbelievable experience, finally getting to play for Scotland, working with all the coaches and meeting new boys from outside Glasgow.

He’s the senior hooker at Scotstoun

“Personally, it was just a really good opportunity to grow and develop your rugby in a different environment as well.”

Hiddleston is 24 but is the most experienced hooker left at the Warriors following the departure in the summer of Johnny Matthews.

“It's strange because when you first come to the club, there's Fraser Brown, George Turner, Johnny Matthews, Grant Stewart – a lot of older boys with a lot of experience,” he said. “Then they kind of parted ways over the last couple of seasons.

“So it's different. But I think the group of hookers we've got now are all a bit younger, and it's a really good group. We all work really well together.”

Seb Stephen is coming up fast

Seb Stephen is coming up fast on the rails and actually won his first cap by replacing Hiddleston in the second half of the Fiji game in July. Hiddleston rates his club-mate highly as he does the Edinburgh quartet of Ashman, Paddy Harrison, Harri Morris and Jerry Blyth-Lafferty, but he hopes to one day establish himself as Scotland's leading hooker.

“I think you've got to be optimistic,” he said. “If I didn't think I could do it, I'd be better going back and playing for Dumfries.

“So I think it's important that I just keep going on the trajectory I'm on and try to put my best foot forward every time I'm on the training pitch and in games.”