Duncan Hodge

Duncan Hodge (born 18 August 1974) is a Scottish former internationalist rugby union player. He gained 26 full caps for Scotland.

Playing career

Hodge was born in Dumfries, Scotland and educated at Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh. He went on to represent Durham as a student, competing in the same team as Will Greenwood and Tim Stimpson.

As a 19-year-old he was given the choice of touring Zimbabwe and South Africa with Scotland's National Cricket team, or playing under-21 national rugby and completing his university exams. Hodge chose the latter option as he had already decided that he wanted to focus on a full-time career in sport. where he only managed one league appearance that year.

International honours Hodge won his first full cap as a replacement for Craig Chalmers against France in Paris in 1997, having already booked a place in Scottish rugby lore when his drop goal in the dying seconds secured Scotland A's victory over the 1994 Springboks. He has made 13 appearances for Scotland A, captaining them to their 40–35 win over Argentina in November 2001.

Hodge in total won 26 caps playing at fly-half for the Scottish rugby union side between 1997 and 2002. As well as his games in Europe he played for Scotland in tours in Australia (1998), New Zealand (2000), and North America (2002). It was on the North American tour when he played in his last full internationals against Canada in Vancouver and USA in San Francisco. He also made two appearances in the 1999 World Cup. This was in the inaugural season of the Six Nations at Murrayfield, and the first victory for Scotland against England since 1990 prevented England from completing a 6 Nations Championship Grand Slam and Scotland from finishing bottom of the table.

Coaching

Duncan Hodge travelled to the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand as Scotland's kicking coach, and during the 2015 Rugby World Cup he acted as attack coach. After the World Cup, he joined Edinburgh Rugby.