Telfer doesn’t want a young Scots captain

STUART HOGG and Jonny Gray should both be considered as Scotland captains, according to legendary national coach Jim Telfer — but not in this championship.

Scotland head coach Vern Cotter will this week decide who is to replace Greig Laidlaw after the everpresent scrum-half suffered an ankle injury in the defeat to France.

John Barclay was the vice-captain in Paris, but he was forced off with a shoulder injury — from which he hopes to recover before the Wales match on Saturday — and the reins were then passed to Gray.

That has made Gray favourite to lead Scotland at the weekend as the RBS Six Nations reaches its mid-point, but Telfer believes it could be asking too much of him at this stage in his career.

‘Jonny Gray is a good player but he has a lot to think about in terms of the line-out, and the way Wales will come at them. His time will come.

‘Everyone is pushing him, but he is still a young player learning his craft and has improvement still to make in his game, as you’d expect of a 22-year-old.’

Of 24-year-old Hogg, Telfer said: ‘I actually think Stuart Hogg will go on to be a good Scotland captain — in time. He has a great breadth of knowledge of the game; he’s a competitor, a winner.

‘He needs to learn to be a little less impetuous — he was rushing in there against France when Ali Price had his wee shindig with the French scrum-half — but he has all the ingredients to be a good captain with some experience at Glasgow.

‘But with Greig gone right now we need experience and I’d go for John Barclay. He is a natural leader and has huge experience of the club and international game.’