SCOTLAND V ARGENTINA

Laidlaw ready to unleash the bairns

THE meme doing the social media rounds, depicting Greig Laidlaw holding the reins of toddlers Finn Russell and Adam Hastings is the classic picture worth a thousand words.

Very much the wise old head within the group, one of the biggest tasks facing Scotland’s captain today is to ensure that they do not become self-destructive with all that pent-up energy in the explosive group of youngsters which also includes the talents of the irrepressible Stuart Hogg, Huw Jones and Blair Kinghorn, as well as Laidlaw’s only fellow 30-something in the back division, Sean Maitland.

Even the way in which he discovered its existence speaks to what the 33-yearold must put up with.

“Yeah, I have seen it. Adam actually showed me it. Hoggy kindly changed the group icon on WhatsApp to that. We are getting reminded every time we check the phone now so...” he reported in mock exasperation.

Laidlaw clearly realises, however, that part of the art of staying in touching with the youngsters is being able to accept that the joke is sometimes on him as the representative of a different generation, describing it all as “a bit of banter,” and indicating that he is capable of a spot of indulgent parenting as long as the youngsters understand the time and the place.

“They can cause mayhem as long as it is in the right area of the field,” he laughed.

He knows, however, that the time to get serious and ensure that everyone understands his responsibility is approaching.

“It comes back to... we want to push Adam on and make him a leader. With him playing in the 10 position he will be vitally important tomorrow afternoon. He is the man in charge,” said Laidlaw.

“This week he has been communicating very well and running the team shape. With me inside him and Finn outside him there will be good communication around him so we can make sure he is happy and go out there and play rugby.”

How Russell adjusts will be vital, but Laidlaw believes the switch will allow both players to shine.

“I think Finn will be tremendous for Adam, to be honest,” he said.

“Any time Finn has trained there or moved there in a game he has done really well. He has a little bit more time and space to pick up his head and hopefully see some opportunities, and he’s a really good communicator as well – that’s one of his great strengths – so he’ll feed that