Allister Hogg became the first Scotland forward in 20 years to score three tries in an international when he notched half of his team’s six in the 2007 Rugby World Cup victory against Romania at Murrayfield: the previous forward’s treble was by John Jeffrey, also in an RWC match against Romania, the 1987 game at Carisbrook, Dunedin. Allister scored his first try for Scotland in the final match of the 2004 RBS Six Nations Championship against Ireland and followed up with tries later the same year against Samoa, Japan and Australia. He scored another try against Samoa when the islanders visited Murrayfield in autumn 2005, and his sixth followed two years later against Ireland in the Word Cup warm-up at Murrayfield. His try tally stretched to 10 when he scored against Italy in Rome in Scotland’s final match of the 2008 RBS Six Nations Championship.

His first cap was in the opening 2004 Six Nations match against Wales, but he missed the 2006 autumn Tests because of injury. He returned to international rugby as a replacement in Scotland’s Twickenham match against England on the opening day of the 2007 RBS Six Nations Championship, continuing in the role in the Murrayfield victory against Wales a week later. He scored the opening try of Scotland’s 2002 tour of North America, during which he played in the three midweek victories and won a place on the subs’ bench for the Test against the USA.

After 48 Scotland caps he turned his hand to the abbreviated game in May 2009, making successful debut as Scotland reached the Cup last four in an IRB world series tournament for the first with a 22-21 quarter-final win against Portugal at Twickenham. A week later at Murrayfield he was in the Scotland squad who again made it to the Cup last four.

Allister has also played three games for Scotland A, making his debut as No.8 in the Aberdeen success against Romania in November 2002. His two others A international were as captain in the 22-all draw with the Italy A at McDiarmid Park, Perth, in February 2009 and the 38-7 win against Tonga nine months later at Netherdale, Galashiels.

He captained Scotland in three age groups. While with the Stirling County club, he led the top-try scoring Scotland under-18 side during the 2001 Four Nations tournament, and in season 2001-2002 he captained Scotland under-19 to victories over Australian Schools and then against their Welsh and English counterparts before helping Scotland to fifth place in the IRB/FIRA Junior World Championship in Italy. His under-21 internationals as captain included the 2003 world championship, when Scotland’s finale was a victory against England at Newbury.

A former pupil of Stirling High School, he has also played basketball for Scotland at under-16 level. He graduated from Telford College in Edinburgh with an HND in Sports Coaching and Sports Development.