Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Laidlaw admits to niggle on the Scotland training ground

Scotland's Greig Laidlaw appeals at a scrum in the Yokohama loss to Ireland (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

Greig Laidlaw has revealed things are getting tetchy on the Scotland training ground in Japan. Gregor Townsend’s squad commenced their World Cup with a harrowing defeat to Ireland last Sunday in Yokohama, a result that led to tensions in training on Thursday ahead of next Monday’s match with Samoa.  

ADVERTISEMENT

“The mood has been pretty tough, as you can imagine. We feel it more than anybody. It has been tough but it has happened. There was a bit of niggle in training today [Thursday], which sometimes happens, but we had it before the Ireland game as well.”

A 36-33 win over Samoa was critical in helping Scotland qualify for the quarter-finals in 2015. Another win is now needed if the Scots are to keep alive their prospects of reaching the last eight. 

The Samoans began their campaign in Japan with a bruising win over Russia that resulted in two yellow-carded players being cited for high tackles that many felt should have been red cards. 

Laidlaw, though, refused to go so far and label the Samoan tackling as nasty. “I don’t think it is a nastiness,” he said. “I know Motu Matu’u (one cited player) pretty well; I played with him at Gloucester. He just likes to hit people pretty hard. It is part of the way they are as people.

(Continue reading below…)

“They like that physical part of the game. It is just in their make-up and how they play the game… the tackles are being looked at. They were two clear headshots and pretty brutal ones at that. Ultimately you are looking for the ref to look after players.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Despite the negativity surrounding Scotland following their capitulation to Ireland, Laidlaw insisted his team were currently no worse than previous Scottish squads at the World Cup.  

“No Scottish team has ever won all four pool matches (Scotland won all three in 1991), so at the minute we’re not any different to any other team. We’ve just had the No1-ranked team in the world up first.

“Were we pleased with our performance? No, far from it. But now every game is a knockout and we need to get it right against Samoa on Monday night.”

WATCH: Scotland legend Gavin Hastings recalls the 1991 World Cup in the latest episode of Rugby World Cup Memories, the new RugbyPass documentary series 

ADVERTISEMENT

Video Spacer

ADVERTISEMENT

Boks Office | Episode 39 | The Investec Champions Cup is back

Argentina v France | HSBC SVNS Hong Kong 2025 | Men's Match Highlights

New Zealand v Australia | HSBC SVNS Hong Kong 2025 | Women's Match Highlights

Tokyo Sungoliath vs Shizuoka BlueRevs | Japan Rugby League One 2024/25 | Full Match Replay

Reds vs Force | Super Rugby W 2025 | Full Match Replay

The Rise of Kenya | The Report

New Zealand in Hong Kong | Brady Rush | Sevens Wonders | Episode 4

The Fixture: How This Rugby Rivalry Has Lasted 59 Years

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
JW 2 hours ago
Razor has an about turn on All Blacks eligibility rules

Yep, another problem!


I think he would have, in the instance I mentioned, which wasn’t changing anything other than correctly applying todays eligibility quidelines. Which is an arbitrary construct, as the deal likely would have played out completely differently, but I just ‘allowed’ him to have 1 year sabbatically for his ‘loyalty’, rather than having some arbitrary number like 70 caps required.


So if Richie had a 3 year deal, and the first year he was allowed to use him still, I don’t think he’d really not transition to Dmac being his main 10, as he’s obviously the only one he can use for the following two years, therefore likely his only real option for the WC (very hard for Richie to overtake him in such a short time). Richie would purely be a security net in a situation like I proposition where there are only small changes to the eligibility.


The system is not working well enough though, as we don’t have the Rugby Championship or World Cup trophies, do we? Well on that last question, that’s all I’m really saying but I would not believe a word this author says, so it’s entirely a ‘what if’ discussion, but if the author is right and now they are actually going to be more flexible, I think that’s great yeah. Ultimately thought I think those two players were an anomaly signing their contracts and futures up so far ahead, especially of when they were performing. Both jumped at the opportunity of good contracts when their All Black prospects weren’t looking that bright.

51 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING ‘Current form doesn’t matter’: Commentator on potential All Blacks midfield ‘Current form doesn’t matter’ in All Blacks race
Search