SCOTLAND captain Greig Laidlaw has told of his pride at being nominated for World Rugby’s Player of the Year award.
The scrum-half and Wales forward Alun Wyn Jones are the only northern-hemisphere players on a six-man shortlist for tomorrow’s ceremony which also features Australian pair Michael Hooper and David Pocock and All Blacks Dan Carter and Julian Savea.
Laidlaw, 30, exited the World Cup in the quarter-finals as top points scorer with 79. He said: “It’s very humbling to be nominated and I can take a huge amount of pride from being on the shortlist for something as big as World Rugby Player of the Year.
“The calibre of player on the rest of the list speaks for itself.
“I’m extremely happy but I think it’s a credit to everybody involved in the Scotland team.
“I think everybody played well and I think that goes a long way.
“I still feel as if I have a huge amount to give the Scotland jersey going forward. Hopefully the World Cup was just a starting point for that.
“I’m definitely not done yet. I’ve worked hard on my rugby for a number of years and feel this is probably the best stage of my career.”
Scotland are aiming for a double World Rugby player of the year award win after centre Mark Bennett was named as one of three nominees for the World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year.
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