World Rugby Hall of Fame – Inductee No.171 and OURFC Captain in 1969, Chris Laidlaw. Considered something of a rugby prodigy in his youth, Chris Laidlaw would fulfil his undoubted potential both on and off the pitch. One of the greatest scrum-halves to ever pull on an All Black number nine jersey, he has gone on to have an influential and varied career outside of the game. After he retired from rugby in 1970, he went on to enjoy a long and distinguished career as a diplomat, politician and broadcaster.
Mentored by former international scrum-half Charlie Saxton, Laidlaw was called into the New Zealand squad and made his test debut for the All Blacks at the age of 19, on their 1963-64 tour of the UK, France and Canada. Included on the trip primarily as an understudy to Kevin Briscoe, he did enough to earn a start for the test against Les Bleus, landing a drop goal in a 12-3 victory at Stade Colombes on 8 February, 1964.
It was the start of a six-and-a-half-year international career in which he made the scrum-half position his own. In total, Laidlaw played 20 tests for the All Blacks, captaining them against Australia in 1968 and playing in a further 37 tour and non-cap matches.
Across that time, his only test defeats in the famous black jersey came at the hands of South Africa. Even then, Laidlaw emerged victorious from four of his seven encounters with the Springboks. It was in Port Elizabeth that Laidlaw played his final test for the All Blacks. By then, he had become a Rhodes Scholar at Merton College, Oxford and captained Oxford University to victory against the touring Springboks.
His involvement wouldn’t end there. He became captain-coach of the Lyon team in France, the first foreign international to play such a role. As a diplomat in the Pacific he coached both Fiji and Samoa and in New Zealand he became a board member of the Hurricanes franchise and Wellington’s Sky Stadium.
He also wrote extensively and honestly about rugby – for British and New Zealand newspapers, and published two best-selling books, Mud in your Eye in 1972 and Somebody Stole my Game in 2010 as the rush of professionalism began to threatened rugby’s core values.
Taken from (https://www.world.rugby/news/973377/world-rugby-hall-of-fame-to-recognise-five-legends-of-the-game)
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