GreigLaidlaw

Scotland scrum-half Greig Laidlaw follows in the footsteps of his uncle Roy Laidlaw by being named in The British & Irish Lions squad for a Tour to New Zealand.

Roy, also a nippy No9, played in 13 of 18 matches on the 1983 Tour – including all four Tests against the All Blacks – and captained the Lions in a pair of midweek matches.

Like his uncle, Laidlaw Jr has skippered his country and consistently proven himself to be a charismatic figurehead. In fact, the scrum-half has captained Scotland 31 times – the most of anyone in history – since first donning the armband when replacing the injured Kelly Brown during the 2013 summer Tour against South Africa and Italy.

The 31-year-old surpassed David Sole’s previous record of 25 appearances as skipper, against Japan during the summer of 2016. Not only a superb distributor and field general behind the pack, Laidlaw is also metronomic from the tee – having booted 582 international points to date.

That puts him third on the all-time Scotland list, behind only Chris Paterson and two-time Lion Gavin Hastings. Laidlaw led Scotland to the quarter-finals of the 2015 Rugby World Cup, notching 79 points along the way – more than any other Lions-eligible player – and his consistently inspiring performances earned him a nomination for World Rugby Player of the Year.

After rising through the international age-group ranks, the Edinburgh-born No.9 played sevens for Scotland for two years, before making his full international debut when he emerged from the bench against New Zealand in November 2010.

The first two years of his international career saw Laidlaw deployed at fly-half but following a recall for Ruaridh Jackson ahead of the 2013 RBS 6 Nations, he was moved to scrum-half and hasn’t looked back.

Having played for Edinburgh in the PRO12 since 2007, he moved to English side Gloucester in 2014 – helping them to European Challenge Cup glory in 2015 – and will join Top 14 giants Clermont Auvergne in the summer of 2017.