Laidlaw full of praise for departing coach
EVEN the greatest coach in the history of Scottish sport ran into difficulties when his players were told in advance that he would be leaving, and only when Alex Ferguson reversed his decision to quit Manchester United at the end of the 2001/02 season did their form return. That only reinforced the impression that the authority of even the best is undermined when their ongoing commitment, or even just involvement can be questioned. Yet the way Scotland played in the autumn suggested there had been no immediate detrimental effect in terms of squad morale following the shock announcement that Vern Cotter would be leaving his post as Scotland’s head coach at the end of this season, and his captain envisages no such problem. “The way he’s coached from the start is to take each game as it comes and simply focus on that,” said Greig Laidlaw, pictured below. “You would never, ever know that Vern and the rest of the coaching staff are moving on after these five games because they’re so professional and detailed we’ve never had to mention it. All that matters is getting our performance right and winning games.” The pair, both of whom present themselves as very serious-minded when on official duty at least, have clearly formed a close bond during the New Zealander’s time in charge and, sitting beside him at London’s Hurlingham Club, Laidlaw consequently seemed to be seeking to walk something of a tightrope between paying Cotter his due, but avoiding embarrassing him. “Vern’s not the type of bloke who likes the credit or people talking about him, but he’s really moved the team forward,” Laidlaw added. “He’s certainly helped me develop as a player and as a person and that’s the good thing about him. He’s solely focused on winning. He’s so competitive and it rubs off on the players.” There was something strange about Cotter’s claims last week that his motivation for having taken on the Scotland job had been that he was tired of people laughing at Scotland. Yet in outlining what the New Zealander has brought to the squad, Laidlaw seemed to confirm that their head coach had rightly deduced that a once proud rugby nation had completely lost its way and needed to be put back on the right path. In doing that, Cotter has ignored the simplistic calls from a minority who put loss of national identity down to the selection of players who were not born in Scotland and instead focused on a pride in performance that, in more than a few cases, was sadly lacking before his arrival.
“He stripped it back when he first came and really made us aware again of what’s important about wearing the thistle,” Laidlaw said. “All that’s so important in my opinion. As much as playing rugby, it’s about connecting with the public. We’re selling the stadium out quicker than we ever have before and all these things are absolutely brilliant. The young players are coming into a group where the standards set are through the roof. We’re a humble group of players, but we know what our roots are and what the thistle means to Scotland.”
Hard as it is to believe that could ever
Vern’s not they type of bloke who likes the credit or people talking about him, but he’s really moved the team forward
have been lost, when the evidence is provided by someone who belongs to Scottish rugby aristocracy, as the nephew of Roy, one of Scotland’s greatest players, it is impossible to dispute. Nor did Laidlaw duck the suggestion that standards were not what they should have been immediately ahead of Cotter’s recruitment.
“There’s no getting away from that,” he said. “There is a marked difference. The way we go about our business, the way we go about our training, there’s a marked difference and that is invaluable for the young players coming through.
“Look at Jonny Gray, Hoggy [Stuart Hogg], Finn [Russell], the fact they’ve spent their younger years under Vern’s tutelage is fantastic for them. It gives them such a jump start for their international careers. I think we can go on now and bear some of the fruits of that.”