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British & Irish LionsEnglandScotland

Laidlaw replaces Youngs in Lions squad

Scotland scrum-half and captain Greig Laidlaw

Scotland captain Greig Laidlaw has been called into the British and Irish Lions squad to tour New Zealand after Ben Youngs pulled out due to family reasons.

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It was announced on Saturday that Leicester Tigers and England scrum-half Youngs had withdrawn from the tour, due to the wife of his brother Tom receiving news that her cancer is terminal.

Laidlaw, who plays his club rugby for Gloucester, will replace Youngs in Warren Gatland’s 41-man squad, joining fellow number nines Conor Murray and Rhys Webb.

Commenting on Youngs’ withdrawal, Lions coach Warren Gatland said: “We fully understand and respect Ben’s decision to stay at home.

“Family comes first and I know from having toured with Tom and Ben in 2013 how close they are.

“This is a difficult and important time for them and we send Ben, Tom and their family our heartfelt thoughts.”

Watch every game of the Lions Tour of NZ streaming live on rugbypass.com, home of the best online rugby coverage including news, highlights, previews & reviews, live scores, and more!

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Comments on RugbyPass

B
BC 41 minutes ago
Top 50 Women's Rugby Players of 2025: Who made the cut? | RugbyPass

To paraphrase the words of Eric Morecombe “most of the right notes but not in the right order”.

21 Go to comments
O
Over the sideline 42 minutes ago
'Won't be a problem': Former teammate weighs in on Mo’unga return

No this is games where they STARTED the test at 10. BB and Dmac were the 10 and 15 respectively and thats who Hansen's whole “ two playmaker” role was built around. So not relevant whether they swapped around or not.

If we are going to be selective around player % then Dmac is 100% wins v England starting at 10 and RM is 33%. Thats unacceptable. Yet RM is also 33% v France as well. This is a 5 year career we are talking about. Even Razor seems to have seen that guys like Havili, who were good at SR level don’t always make great test players.



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27 Go to comments
P
PB 47 minutes ago
How the Springboks’ No 10 options will keep the All Blacks guessing

SA are good at chasing games, not true ?

23 Go to comments
P
PB 47 minutes ago
How the Springboks’ No 10 options will keep the All Blacks guessing

Nice try. Buy a calculator and do the maths and come back and tell us how many of the current Bok players of the last 2 seasons have not shown their mettle at test level?

23 Go to comments
B
BC 48 minutes ago
Charlotte Caslick's World Cup dream takes a hit

Really disappointing for Caslick. Irrespective of who you support you do not want to see anyone miss out through injury.

1 Go to comments
P
PB 49 minutes ago
How the Springboks’ No 10 options will keep the All Blacks guessing

Get a book and read. You suck at interpreting rugby tactics

23 Go to comments
P
PB 50 minutes ago
How the Springboks’ No 10 options will keep the All Blacks guessing

Lucky you! You have missed the last two years of the Boks playing

23 Go to comments
P
PB 51 minutes ago
How the Springboks’ No 10 options will keep the All Blacks guessing

Please enlighten us as to the known game plan. If you have watched any Bok test matches you will have seen that they can easily change game plans and have the players to successfully implement them? So tell us what the Boks are going to do, that is known?

23 Go to comments
O
Over the sideline 53 minutes ago
'There's no future': Former All Blacks pick their halfback for first Argentina Test

Agree re Ratima but many forget he was the one being selected above Roigard at school level and age group level. Roogard always looked better suited to test rugby tho due to his aggressive style and his build. Yep BB the 10 now and I’d say thru to 2027. Shuffling Mounga back into the test side will be a major gamblefor Razor. 10 tests to completely change it all again? Hope it doesn’t end up like 2019 and 2023.

The clear proof of BBs superiority over Mounga will dictate a lot.



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4 Go to comments
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JW 55 minutes ago
'Won't be a problem': Former teammate weighs in on Mo’unga return

You are making a clear and concise statement Ardy, accurate in a way even.

For instance Beauden is in part so far ahead in those stats because he played a dozen times at 10 in the 2015 team. The team with perhaps the best All Black pack ever. It’s far a majority of that pack continued after 2015, and could even be credited with the undefeated 2016 season, but then it’s largely the same pack him and Richie used through till 2019 (1 game for Dmac), where results were particularly bad.



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T
TI 1 hour ago
The growing exodus of Australasia’s biggest rugby athletes must stop

What a depressing read. It’s largely in the money. NFL can throw around the kind of buck no one can compete against.

France have the best domestic league in the world because they have more money to spend than other competitions.



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8 Go to comments
J
JW 1 hour ago
'Won't be a problem': Former teammate weighs in on Mo’unga return

Breakdown I assume? Not surprised by those results at all.

If you where to take away Beaudens first 4 years at 10 (34 of his first 51 tests) either side of 2015, I’d imagine you, a) get a more even spread of games shared amongst the three, and b) find that him and Dmac swap for first and second against most teams (bar perhaps SA).



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27 Go to comments
J
JW 1 hour ago
'Won't be a problem': Former teammate weighs in on Mo’unga return

I’m surprised you don’t follow Nick Bishops thought that not coming up trumps is actually a red herring rather than an indicator of anything.

27 Go to comments
J
JW 1 hour ago
'Won't be a problem': Former teammate weighs in on Mo’unga return

Actually they started under Hansen, predominantly where Beauden and Richie struggled at 10.

But yes, Foster was present and probably not helping things then as well.



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27 Go to comments
J
JW 1 hour ago
'Won't be a problem': Former teammate weighs in on Mo’unga return

Yes most they are just great prospects. Ratima has some great running instincts but doesn’t seem to bustle himself about with that power and energy he has, it needs to be really loose for him to flourish and beat a better opposition 9. Hotham is still a very young gun with more willpower than knowledge. Preston has it all but is only tried and SR level and his performance their didn’t build, it got more lackluster if anything. Fakatava can’t seem to get on top of the mental game required for a static or weak pack, which could often be the type of pack NZ might select on bsed on form (this July).

I’m sure one of those is atleast going to be a better back than they had at the last WC though (if you exclude the fact they didn’t select Roigard).



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Wayneo 1 hour ago
How the Springboks’ No 10 options will keep the All Blacks guessing

I think it’s safe to say that as soon as Tony Brown walked through the door the SB’s left the past 100 years behind them.

23 Go to comments
J
JW 1 hour ago
'Won't be a problem': Former teammate weighs in on Mo’unga return

Haha as 1hundy as any one eyed converted cantabrian can get!

27 Go to comments
G
GP 1 hour ago
Ex-All Black coach Steve Hansen's verdict on Richie Mo'unga's new deal

Well said . Richie Mo’unga was treated appallingly by Steve Hansen and Ian Foster. The guy should have been the first choice from 2018 onwards. As you say the dual player maker role was a disaster and undermined Richie completely. I agree with your other comment that Razor has gone down the same path pandering to Barrett and McKenzie, at the expense of others. You can throw up and coming Northland and Crusaders 10, Rivez Reihana , another who should be looked at.

25 Go to comments
C
Cantab 1 hour ago
'There's no future': Former All Blacks pick their halfback for first Argentina Test

Ratima is yet to prove he is international class but likely to get the chance to establish his credentials. Good luck to him. BB is now the leading 10 but whether he remains as such is yet to be determined. Note that RM was excellent at super rugby level when Razor was his coach so don’t take too much store of his form under Foster who wasn’t much cop when in charge with the ABs. Razor was prepared to move heaven & earth to get RM back so it is yet to be seen which of BB & RM is ultimately preferred. I believe that both these players would serve NZ well and there will be a place in the team for both.

4 Go to comments
H
Hammer Head 2 hours ago
How the Springboks’ No 10 options will keep the All Blacks guessing

It’s a better dilemma than having the dilemma of only having half a flyhalf, with the real deal only arriving in 2026.

I hope BB is wrapped up in some cotton wool because if he goes down with another injury it’s going to be a looong RC.



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23 Go to comments
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