Former Scotland captain Greig Laidlaw has been one of the highest profile recruits to join Japanese rugby from the Northern Hemisphere and is now embarking on his second career in the game which sees his Urayasu D-Rocks within 80 minutes of promotion to League One’s top-flight.
The Edinburgh native, now 38, is one of the most celebrated players in his country’s history with a record-breaking 39 caps as Scotland captain from 76 appearances and he scored a staggering 714 points, placing him second on Scotland’s all-time points list behind only Chris Paterson.
After plying his trade with Edinburgh, Gloucester and Clermont, Laidlaw made the biggest switch of his career when he left Europe for the first time to move to Japan and play in the Top League in 2020 with the Shining Arcs.
After two seasons as a player the versatile scrum-half cum fly-half, who toured with the 2017 British and Irish Lions in New Zealand, switched to a player-coach role last season and is now in his first campaign as a full-time coach.
Talent-laden D-Rocks, who rebranded from the Shining Arcs to Urayasu D-Rocks for the birth of the Top League’s fully professional successor, League One, in 2022, finished the regular season top of the second division this term to book a promotion/relegation game with division one’s hapless basement outfit Kintetsu Liners.
Under the leadership of head coach Johan Ackermann and his right-hand man Laidlaw, who have tasted defeat only once all season, the D-Rocks bested the Liners, whose ranks included Quade Cooper and Semisi Masirewa, 21-12 in Tokyo on Saturday.
Ahead of the monumental second leg this Friday in Osaka, which sees the Liners needing to win by over nine points to win on aggregate, RugbyJP.com spoke exclusively to the much-admired Scot.
“We very tentatively talked about a coaching role initially when I signed,” said the Jedburgh Grammar School graduate.
“It was probably in the plan from the off a little bit.
“It’s seemed to have worked, it’s been great for me to keep that consistency with the same group of boys and now I’m just focused on the coaching.”
Calling time on an illustrious career can be one of the most difficult moments an elite level athlete will face in their life.
Even if a standout talent decides to remain in the game where they have thrived for close to two decades, there’s no guarantee of success or a smooth transition with a different set of demands and to take on such a challenge overseas only heightens the difficulty.
The transition from being a renowned elite level player is one that Laidlaw was ready for.
“I think it’s been great because I was ready to stop playing that’s for sure,” Laidlaw admitted.
“There’s still some ways where you miss the game but I think that’s a struggle many sports people have because it’s stepping away, it’s been my identity for a long time.
“But now it’s been great for me to have that consistency where the boys know what I’m all about. I’m enjoying the challenge of trying to help the young boys and sort of bringing them through.”
First in Laidlaw’s mind when he considered the offer to up sticks and move from France to Asia was not financial incentives but how the move would affect his family.
“My family are here, they’ve been here since the start and that was part of me coming to Japan.
“We was in France together before but here, while it’s a six-month season itself, there’s a a long lead in with pre-season.
“We’re actually really settled here, and my two older boys are at an international school and my young fella he’s only 18 months old, so he’s just started nursery, a Japanese one. We’re all in as it were. We’re all happy and feel lucky to be based here.”
The modest former Top League standout conceded that despite his best efforts, his Japanese language skills are a still a work in progress.
“My 9-year-old and 7-year-old boys are absolutely flying which is incredible, they’re in an international school but they do Japanese studies. I wouldn’t quite say they’re fluent but they’re doing pretty well. He pushes to the front of the queue.”
When asked who does the ordering when the Laidlaw family is dining out around the D-Rocks’ base of Chiba, a one-hour journey from Tokyo, we received a typically honest answer.
“My oldest son does actually, it’s slightly embarrassing (laughs).”
The well-travelled stalwart, who scored over 1,500 points in his club career, has naturally leaned on his cousin Clark Laidlaw’s rich coaching experience in the game with the Hurricanes flying high in Super Rugby Pacific.
Clark Laidlaw, 46, the son of former British and Irish Lions and Scotland international Roy Laidlaw, is credited with transforming the fortunes of New Zealand’s men’s sevens team as he steered them to gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and the Rugby World Cup Sevens in the same year.
The All Blacks Sevens won the World Rugby Sevens Series back-to-back in 2020 and 2021 and took silver medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games and the award-winning Scot was headhunted for the top job at the Hurricanes this season.
“Clark and I are pretty close, we’re in touch, it’s been awesome to see him make the transition back into 15's and they’re flying.
“They’re obviously doing something right down there. We’ve always had a strong relationship, I’ve spoken to him through the years while I’ve still been playing, I’ve always bounced ideas off him.
“He’s open minded and very positive about the game, hopefully I’m in that sort of camp as well. I’m planning a trip to New Zealand this year, let’s see if I can get down there but certainly, we keep in touch, I speak to him fairly regularly.”
RugbyJP.com asked the forthcoming former Top 14 star if there’s once particular piece of advice his cousin has offered that he has adopted.
“I think there’ a few things, he’s very open, in terms he likes a player-led dynamic but stresses the need to be strong minded as well.
“How you are as a person that’s really important, clearly the rugby side is important, I enjoy speaking about how he engages with his players. Certainly, when he was the All Blacks sevens coach, he had a lot of good ideas, the terminology and language he uses around it, I was really impressed by it.”
The D-Rocks, who boast a world-class training facility on the coast in Chiba with two full pitches and stands, have produced box-office rugby this season and have been the leading team in the second tier.
One year ago the D-Rocks fell at the promotion/relegation play-off stage to the same team they face this year in the Kintetsu Liners but there’s a general feeling that this season is different.
“I think we’ve grown as a team because we’re in division two, we’ve had longer together, we know who we are as a team. That type of thing, we’ve had more discipline this season, not giving silly penalties away, just simple things but obviously we’re at the business end of the season.”
The surprising arrival of barnstorming Wallabies centre Samu Kerevi from Suntory Sungoliath has also been a huge factor in their promotion bid.
“I think Samu is an excellent player, he obviously did a great job for Suntory. He genuinely cares for the team. We’ve got Samu, Izzy (Folau), Otere Black and top players, the boys are really keen to see it through and earn promotion.”
With major corporate backers in powerhouse telecommunications company NTT Communications, if the D-Rocks are promoted they are clearly a team that has no plans to just make up the numbers in Japan’s premier division.
“The main job is getting up but yes that’s the mentality and attitude 100%, we aim to go up and be successful.”
When asked whether the resources for player recruitment is dependent on promotion, Laidlaw says it’s a factor but they have a plan and already boast solid a structure and a good squad.
“We hope to keep as much as possible of this group together.”
The rumour mill has suggested that Leicester Tigers’ South African number eight Jasper Wiese is joining the D-Rocks next season and RugbyJP’s sleuthing work has yielded results again as Wiese has already been following the club on Instagram for a number of months.
Laidlaw, after a telling chuckle, said: “Yeah, there’s a lot of rumours, I’ve seen that as well.”
One question that truly stumped the Scot was why his club has played a handful of home games in Sendai, northeast of Tokyo on Honshu island, and several hours away from their home base of Chiba.
“That’s a good question, I think it’s almost two hours away. I think it’s part of Japanese rugby and the aim is to grow the fanbase.”
While boasting an abundance of international riches, the D-Rocks have a wealth of Japan-qualified talent and Laidlaw revealed that former Australia head coach Eddie Jones whose in his second stint at Japan’s leading man, has visited the club recently.
“He’s been here, about a month ago, he popped down and spoke to a few of the Japanese boys but not much outside of that.”
When blessed with an unlimited amount of time - thanks to Japanese hospitality - with arguably one of the greatest minds in the game, and a true national hero, the subject of leading his country once again - yet in a vastly different role - had to be raised.
“It’s crossed my mind (coaching Scotland), I’m just in the early stages of my coaching career, I think, if you go from a player to the top of the coaching tree, if it doesn’t work, you have to go away and earn your stripes, really discover who you was as a player again and as a coach you don’t know who you are yet.
“I think I’m happy to stay away longer, keep learning, being around different coaches, it’s about who do I want to become as a coach.”
Japan is a wonderful environment for a player and an aspiring international coach and Laidlaw is able to work with world-class individuals on and off the field perhaps without the intense spotlight he’d receive on home soil.
"I truly believe it is (the best environment for me). You know learning about Japanese culture and the players work ethic is unbelievable.
“To be quite honest, it’s also their downfall in some ways, because they train too hard, it’s ironic but, I think I think the players need coaching here, it’s more about managing the group, getting a lot of time coaching in which I’m really enjoying, selfishly for me that’s a great part of me development as young coach.”
In terms of the immediate future, naturally the decorated Scottish treasure is focused on the job in hand.
“There’s things to be decided but I’m continuing that development as a coach and hopefully we can get promoted (on Friday)."
The firm fan favourite signed off with a message to his club’s fans who have adopted him as one of their own from the moment he arrived in the land of the rising sun.
“The fans have been great all season, I know it’s not easy with travel and things, but we really appreciate it and it’s really important.
“We need our supporters now more than ever going into Friday.”
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