Leading club and country too much for one man, says Michael Bradley

By David Ferguson
Published on 25/07/2012 02:33

CAPTAINING club and country is too much responsibility for one player according to Edinburgh coach Michael Bradley, who explained yesterday why Scotland skipper Ross Ford would fall in line behind Greig Laidlaw when back on club duty.

The Scotland internationalists who claimed the famous win in Australia, the first since 1982, and followed up with debut Test victories in Fiji and Samoa, have begun to filter back into their club squads this week after recuperating on a fortnight’s holiday.

Laidlaw’s first task was to meet up with a handful of new signings at the club, but otherwise it was business as usual with Bradley confirming that the 26-year-old will continue as skipper with Roddy Grant and Sean Cox his vice-captains, ready to deputise when Laidlaw, or Grant, is rested or on Test duty.

Bradley explained: “Greig did very well last year and the reasons we selected him to be captain last year haven’t changed. He is an excellent professional who demands very high standards of himself, which carries down to the rest of the squad.

“He also took a risk for us last year in moving from nine to ten and that loyalty and commitment should be rewarded.”

Ross has always been a very strong member of our pack and irrespective of whether he has the armband or not he will still contribute hugely to our direction on the pitch. From my own experience, it’s a difficult thing to captain every side you play in. Hopefully, Ross will be captain of Scotland for the foreseeable future and if he doesn’t have the responsibility of saying the last few words going into the match, then we feel we’ll get more out of Ross.”

Laidlaw commented: “It’s a great honour to captain Edinburgh and I’m delighted Michael has stuck with me. Fordy leads anyway and doesn’t need a tag alongside his name.”