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.. The latter was the only realistic choice for somebody who has already decided that he wanted to focus on a full-time career in sport. He played for Watsonians until the creation of the Scottish Pro sides when he was contracted to play for Edinburgh Rugby. He played for Edinburgh Gunners twice sandwiched around a two-year spell with Leeds Tykes. His second season in Leeds was ruined by injury. 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, New Zealand, and North America. 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. He scored 123 points for the national side from six tries, 15 conversions, 20 penalties and one drop goal. His finest moment was when he converted his own try and kicked four penalties to score all the points for Scotland in the 2000 Calcutta Cup 19–13 win against England. 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.
