Greig Laidlaw targets quick start to noise up French crowd

Scotland skipper Greig '¨Laidlaw is targeting another flying start from his side this weekend in a bid to get the notoriously fickle French crowd on the backs of their own team at an early stage.

Greig Laidlaw hopes Scotland can silence the French crowd on Sunday. Picture: Gary Hutchison/SNS/SRU

After winning their opening Six Nations game for the first time in 11 years with a famous 27-22 victory over Ireland last Saturday, the Scots now 
travel to the Stade de France aiming to break their 18-year Paris hoodoo. The triumph over the Irish was built upon three first-half tries and 
Laidlaw senses that a similarly strong start could neutralise the passionate home crowd and heap pressure on a side who lost their opener 19-16 to England at Twickenham.

“The [French] crowd is different from other rugby crowds and that’s something we can use to our advantage,” said Laidlaw.

“Game day there is a bit different, with the traditional French bands playing. It’s a brilliant stadium to play at.

Greig Laidlaw hopes Scotland can silence the French crowd on Sunday. Picture: Gary Hutchison/SNS/SRU

“That first 20 minutes, it’s very, very important for us playing away from home.

“If you can hear the whistling from the crowd in France, you know you’re doing something right in the game,” added 
Laidlaw.

“We focus on the start of the game and, although we’ll need to play for 80 minutes, hopefully we can turn the crowd against them a bit early on.”

Scotland head coach Vern Cotter will name his side 
for the match in France 
tomorrow.