Laidlaw prepares to touch down in Land of Rising Sun
GREIG Laidlaw was officially unveiled to the Japanese press, and the fans of NTT Communications Shining Arcs, his new club, via video link yesterday morning. The former Scotland captain will not fly out to start this new rugby challenge until October, but he is a canny operator and having visited the Land of the Rising Sun twice in the last four years – on tour in 2016 and at last year’s World Cup – he had no problem demonstrating that he already has a good grasp of what is expected of him.
He started the interview with a warm greeting and best wishes to everyone in Japan, and then graciously thanked each journalist for their question, demonstrating that he is very aware of the importance of manners and respect in Japanese culture.
In fairness to Laidlaw, he has always been one of the more civil and helpful Scottish rugby stars when it comes to press relations, but this was taking it to a new level – and it would undoubtedly have had some hacks in his homeland falling off their seats in shock had it happened at a Murrayfield press conference. The 34-year-old acknowledged that this will be his last hurrah as a player, and he has already spoken about his desire to move into coaching, but any suggestion that moving to Japan is based purely on boosting his bank balance and his profile was quickly put to bed by both the player and his new employer.
First and foremost, Laidlaw is a rugby signing. Having failed to rise above mid-table in the Japanese Top League during the 10 years since they joined the competition, Shining Arcs are looking towards their highly experienced and famously competitive new acquisition to provide the leadership, composure and focus required to take the club to the next level.
He is joining at a time when Japanese rugby is going through a process of transition, with their domestic league shifting towards something more in line with the fully professional leagues we are used to in historic tier-one nations.
“We are a side predominantly consisting of company players so we have been developing the team to become a side able to succeed in the big games, however we have not been able to make it to the top four [playoffs] yet,” explained general manager Hirofumi Uchiyama.
“We have been liaising with French side Lyon about sharing players and so on, and developing our style of rugby based around attacking the big spaces when presented on the pitch; however, we also identified some challenges as a team in terms of game-management, decisionmaking at crucial moments, leadership, captaincy and maintaining good relationships with the referees. We believe Mr Laidlaw is the perfect guy to overcome those challenges.”
Laidlaw would not have
I am trying to achieve. I am very fortunate to have played professional rugby in Scotland, England and France, and I feel it is really important to understand the culture firstly, and to speak a little bit of the language because that really helps, so I am going to learn as much as I can, and then it is about hard-work and being the best rugby player you can be.”
Laidlaw did break into a wry smile when he was asked what nickname he would like the fans to give him, presumably conscious that the “Mr Greig” soubriquet which so amused his Scotland team-mates during last year’s World Cup is likely to resurface. “I don’t really have any nicknames as such – just Greig, normally – but maybe you guys will come up with a nickname for me soon,” he replied.
The conference host asked fans to send in suggestions for a new nickname, but nothing was forthcoming by the end of the broadcast – perhaps it was good manners, but more likely they want to see what the new man is made of before first. Japanese etiquette is second to none, but you really have to prove yourself to win their hearts. Laidlaw knows what he is taking on, but he has never ducked a challenge in his life.