Scots are left in limbo by Laidlaw blow
SCOTLAND suffered a devastating blow to their Six Nations campaign yesterday when captain Greig Laidlaw was ruled out of the rest of the tournament with an ankle injury.
The scrum-half, who has 582 points from 58 Tests, went off after just 25 minutes of Scotland’s 22-16 loss to France on Sunday and left the Stade de France in a protective boot.
His replacement, Glasgow’s Ali Price, is set to step up against Wales on Saturday week but coach Vern Cotter faces a captaincy conundrum.
Flanker John Barclay took over the skipper’s duties but he also went off, leaving lock Jonny Gray to become the third Scottish captain of the day.
Cotter will also have to find a replacement goal-kicker, with fly-half Finn Russell the next cab off the rank.
Laidlaw, 31, will see a specialist later in the week to find out how long he will be out of action but he is in danger of missing Gloucester’s Challenge Cup quarter-final against Cardiff at the start of April.
Wing Alex Cuthbert, meanwhile, has been released from the Wales squad along with 12 other players to turn out for their Pro12 clubs this weekend.
Cuthbert was a late replacement for George North hours ahead of Saturday’s 21-16 defeat by England and was beaten by opposite number Elliot Daly as the Englishman scored the match-winning try.
North is hoping to recover from a GIVEN THE BOOT: Laidlaw will miss rest of Six Nations dead leg in time to play against Scotland.
No8 Taulupe Faletau is set to play for Bath against Harlequins on Saturday after coming off the bench against England.
Wales stand-in boss Rob Howley was criticised for taking off in-form Ross Moriaty and replacing him with Faletau, who has played just 143 minutes of rugby this season, but the decision was defended by assistant coach Neil Jenkins.
Jenkins said: “Admittedly, he hasn’t played a massive amount of rugby but, when he’s fit and right, are there many better in the world? I’m not too sure.”
Former Wales scrum-half Dwayne Peel, an assistant coach at Bristol, will move to Ulster next season.