GREIG Laidlaw, the Scotland captain, has confirmed that he intends to keep playing for his country all the way to the next Rugby World Cup.
The scrum-half revealed last week that during contract negotiations with Clermont Auvergne, the French club he will join from Gloucester next summer, he had insisted on being allowed to continue his international career. Speaking at the national training camp in Edinburgh yesterday, he said he was hopeful of remaining in contention for the Scotland No 9 jersey right up to the 2019 tournament in Japan.
“I’d like to think so,” Laidlaw said. “I feel all right at the moment. I’m enjoying my rugby and I’m loving playing in this team.
“With Finn [Russell] outside and some of the young forwards coming through, I think it’s brilliant, and you need a bit of experience in there and I like to think I give that. Touch wood I’ve steered clear of many injuries, and I want to stay in this jersey as long as I can.”
Having only turned 31 last month, and having enjoyed, as he said, a relatively injury-free career, Laidlaw appears to have a good chance of carrying on in the national squad for the next three years. He has matured considerably as a leader on the field since being given the captaincy, has improved his game since moving from Edinburgh to Gloucester in the summer of 2014, and is moving to France at the end of the current season with the aim of continuing to develop as a player.
He admitted, however, that he did not necessarily see himself in the same category as Sean Lamont, the Glasgow Warriors winger. Now 35, and having played for Scotland more than 100 times, Lamont has insisted that he will never voluntarily retire from international duty as long as he is still playing.
“I don’t know about that,” Laidlaw said when asked if he took the same approach. “At one point I think it would be good to step away. When the time comes we’ll see, but I’m not going anywhere at the minute.”
Laidlaw won his 54th cap in the 23-22 defeat by Australia at the weekend, and is expected to make it 55 on Saturday, when Scotland play Argentina at Murrayfield in the second of their three Autumn Test.
The biggest question about selection remains the back row because of the injuries sustained by Ryan Wilson and John Hardie against the Wallabies as well as the injury that ruled Josh Strauss out of contention for that match. John Barclay and Hamish Watson, who began last weekend’s game at Nos 6 and 7 respectively, are both available, while Rob Harley, Magnus Bradbury and Cornell du Preez are also in the squad. Without pre-empting selection, Laidlaw suggested that again playing Barclay and Watson together would give Scotland extra versatility, especially in attack.
“Somebody of John Barclay’s make-up gives you a 6/7 kind of player. He runs clever lines and can tackle and reload back like a traditional 6.
“Hamish gets over the ball at the breakdown, and if those two boys are selected again it gives us that two-openside mentality. But again, with John being such a clever player, it makes up for not having a 6 as well.”
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