GREIG’S LAYING DOWN THE LAW
Laidlaw under no illusions France will be tough test
MOMENTS after the telephone interview with Greig Laidlaw ended, the phone rang again and his number came up.
I answered it, but before I could speak he said: “Hello, Chico…” at which point I interrupted, laughing and said: “You’ve accidentally dialled me back, Greig, but I think I know who you’re looking for – and why.”
Apologising, he asked if we could keep the exchange between ourselves and I was pretty sure I knew why, but six years on the statute of limitations has surely run out and is worth breaching it anyway, because it seemed to speak to two important things about the man.
At the time, having long been Mike Blair’s understudy while he was competing with another of Scotland’s greatest ever scrum-halves, Chris Cusiter, for the No.9 shirt, Laidlaw had achieved his greatest goal by getting capped for his country, but was still clearly striving to get better.
His fellow Jed-Forest native Chico Woods was a sprint trainer and Laidlaw knew that the missing ingredient in his game was an extra yard of pace. That he did not want anyone to know, meanwhile, appeared to be an indicator of his team ethic in seeking, I suspected, in avoiding being seen as undermining his club’s conditioning coaches.
Headlined “Greig Laidlaw does whatever it takes to get the job done for Edinburgh”, the piece was written during Edinburgh’s European Cup run in 2012 and concluded with a reference to Laidlaw’s famous 1984 Grand Slam winning uncle which, at the time, I considered slightly fanciful, reading: “By way of a footnote, then, it is worth recording that Roy was 26 years old when he made his Test debut in 1980. Greig may not have started for Scotland then, but he turned 26 just a few months ago.
With two appearances as a replacement, he has a slight lead to build on and, whether as scrum-half or stand-off, he may be another who will go on to match, or even surpass, the great man’s achievement.”
WHAT Greeg, as he is generally known, has since achieved has surely exceeded even his own expectations and if he is still one Grand Slam, one Triple Crown and one win at Twickenham behind, he has surpassed uncle Roy’s cap count and made more than six times as many appearances as captain. The lad who was just setting out on his career when that comparison between their late starts was made, has matured into one of the more reassuring presences in the Scottish game.
Since what was very much his personal breakthrough season, Laidlaw has gained additional experience, a three-year stint in the English Premiership with Gloucester having ended when he joined Clermont last summer, lending an additional element to his re-selection this weekend since he brings insight into the French outlook and mindset. To that end, he has clearly been encouraged by the way respect has been regained.
“The perception now is that Scotland are a very strong team, especially off the back of the way the boys played in November,” said Laidlaw. “I remember coming into training and they were all taken aback by the performance.
“The boys had all watched it over the weekend and were mightily impressed with how we played against both Australia and New Zealand. They certainly won’t be underestimating us.”
HOWEVER, while the same trap that saw Scottish pundits anticipate a big win in Wales last weekend means some have dismissed tomorrow’s opponents as a typically flakey French side, that admiration is fully reciprocated.
“Because I know their players I have a lot of respect for them. They have speed, power
The perception now is that Scotland are a very strong team, especially off the back of November. I remember coming into training and they were all taken aback by the performance
and scrummaging power so they’re always going to be in games. They’ll be working hard on their defence so I wasn’t surprised they pushed Ireland so close,” he said. “They’ll always target the scrum, they love their scrumming. I think they’ll back their attacking game as well and will come after our defence because we leaked a fair few points at the weekend.”
It is, of course, one of the great ironies when Scots question French fragility away from home and boasting home ad- vantage against them has not made that much of a difference, Scotland having won just two of the sides’ nine Murrayfield encounters in the Six Nations era, but there is authority i n Laidlaw’s message as he calls upon Scotland to make the most of this weekend’s geographic advantage.
“We are back at BT Murrayfield where we were only were beaten once in the calendar year last year, that is something we will be hammering home,” he said.