ITV slammed for '˜disrespectful' Greig Laidlaw caption

The injured Scotland captain appeared on the channel as part of its pundit team for Saturday’s Six Nations clash between England and Scotland at Twickenham.

Laidlaw was able to participate due to an ankle injury sustained during the Dark Blue’s defeat to France earlier in the tournament.

After England had completely routed the Scots by a margin of 40 points, coverage shifted back to the studio where Laidlaw was an analyst alongside Sir Clive Woodward, Sir Ian McGeechan and Jonny Wilkinson.

As the camera focused on the Scotland scrum-half, his picture was captioned, ‘Lost each of five tests vs England, twice at Twickenham’.

A screenshot of the caption featuring Laidlaw was shared by Twitter user Eric Northcote, who wrote: “Truly pathetic captioning. Greig Laidlaw was a guest. Show some respect.”

His tweet, posted yesterday evening, has been retweeted over 1,000 times with a further 2,000 likes.

Outraged fans were quick to respond on Twitter.

Journalist Tom English wrote: “Jeez. The Scotland captain deserves a whole lot more respect than that crass caption.”

@Bethaan92 tweeted: “ITV courage should be ashamed of themselves regarding the caption of Greig Laidlaw so disrespectful!

Phil Steel said: “And this ladies and gentlemen, is why all things England rugby are so disliked by other nations.”

Lisa Goldie pointed out: “Looking forward to ITV Sport’s apology for the Laidlaw caption. Next time try ‘Scottish captain since 2011 and 3rd all time point scorer.”

Steve Pitt added: “ITV Rugby, after the completely disrespectful caption that you put under Greg Laidlaw yesterday, you should never be allowed show 6N again.”