Greig Laidlaw’s form, experience and competitive spirit made him “the obvious choice” to replace the unfortunate Grant Gilchrist as Scotland captain for Saturday’s opening viagogo Test against Argentina, believes head coach Vern Cotter.
The Gloucester scrum-half takes the duties from the 24-year-old lock who broke his arm just four days after being named captain, and will skipper his country for the eighth time against the Pumas at BT Murrayfield, the home ground he left in the summer for a new challenge in England.
And Cotter believes that he has broadened his game in the few short months since going south, meaning he wins the tight battle for the No 9 jersey as well as the skipper’s role.
“He’s been playing exceptionally well for Gloucester,” said Cotter, also highlighting Laidlaw’s 90% return from goalkicks in the Aviva Premiership.
“We have a number of leaders to look at after how unfortunate it was for Grant, but Greig’s form and the fact he has captained for me before made him the obvious choice, and that he captained twice in the summer.”
“One of his biggest qualities is that he is a competitor, and I think we will benefit from that. His goalkicking has been exceptional this year, I think it has been at 90 percent. It’s good to have a couple of those guys in the team.”
Scouting around for a captain for the second time in a month merely proved to Cotter that he had inherited a number capable of the role.
“There are a number, and some of those are playmakers as well,” he continued “We have younger guys coming through and showing leadership qualities, Jonny Gray for example, so it is encouraging.
“There is a lot of enthusiasm within the group for these upcoming games. Greig has an old head on his shoulders and he is going to be channelling all that energy onto the field and will do a good job.”
Cotter added that his theme of restoring the Scotland team’s identity consulting with Scotland rugby legends like Jim Telfer, Sir Ian McGeechan and Andy Irvine – “was now in the players’ hands”.
“I don’t know the identity was exactly lost, but it is just being able to connect with people who have worn the shirt before,” he said.
“It is these guys turn now and they want to play at the same standards as the great players of the past so that the people who come next can see that the standards are they have to live up to.
“A lot of this stuff is in the players’ hands now, they have to develop things and improve the culture (in the squad).
“I know they treasure and cherish the moments immensely to carry the jersey, especially to wear it in front of a home crowd and developing things from the past they remember.”