GREIG LAIDLAW has announced his retirement from international rugby. The 34-year-old scrum-half (and sometime stand-off) has been capped 76 times since his debut against New Zealand in November 2010, He has led Scotland on 39 occasions which is more than any other player in the game’s history.

“It is probably one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make, but when I sat back and took the time to really think, I feel it is the right time both for me as a player and as a person, for us as a family, and for the Scotland team as well,” said Laidlaw.

He follows fellow stalwarts John Barclay and Tommy Seymour in choosing to call time on their Scotland careers soon after the dust kicked up by the team’s early exit from this year’s World Cup had settled.

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“World Cups are probably a good time for transition,” reflected Laidlaw. “It was never going to last forever, sadly, and I have always been passionate about the fact that you only have a certain amount of time in the jersey, and you have to give it everything you can, and I think I have done that. My time has come to an end, but I’m looking forward to watching the boys pulling on the blue jersey and will be right behind them moving forward.”

Laidlaw grew up and came through the ranks as a player in Jedburgh, where he is a member of one of the Borders’ great rugby clans. He is nephew of Scotland and Lions legend Roy.

He made his debut for Edinburgh off the bench during the 2005-6 season whilst still an academy player, before signing full-time with the capital club in 2007 and battling for regular game time against Scotland incumbent Mike Blair.

Laidlaw joined Gloucester in the summer of 2014, then in 2017 he moved to Clermont on a three-year deal which runs out at the end of this season. While there has been no announcement of a contract extension yet, Laidlaw indicated that he plans to carry on playing professional rugby for as long as possible.

“Certainly my rugby journey is not over,” he stated. “I’m still playing professionally, which I’ll be looking to do for the foreseeable future, but in terms of that international commitment I just felt that the timing was right.

“I’m still in contract here in Clermont so I will keep playing professional rugby for as long as I can, because my body is good, my mind is good as well, and I’m really enjoying it. I think the step back from international rugby will allow me to have a few breaks in the season which I have never had before, which will allow me stay mentally fresh.

“We’re very happy [here], it is an excellent part of the world, really good people here in Clermont, and the club is really well run as well, which helps a lot,” he added. “It has not been all plain sailing, there has been challenges in moving away to a foreign country which speaks a different language, but we’ve embraced the challenge and we’ve had good fun. We’re looking forward to the rest of it that lies ahead.

“In terms of my long term goals, I’ll certainly look at coaching as something I may go into at some point down the track. I’m pretty passionate about that and I want to try to stay involved in the game if I can. If not, I work closely with my agency back in Scotland – with Rowan Shepherd – and they are excellent with the off-field stuff as well, so hopefully there is a few options away from rugby if I choose to go down that route.

“But I’m somebody who is pretty passionate, I wear my heart on my sleeve, so whether I can be prised away from the rugby field remains to be seen.”