Massie added: "With the possible exception of Jerome Gallion, Laidlaw is the most dangerous breaker from the scrum in contemporary Rugby. He doesn't have the strength of Terry Holmes, but he is faster and less predictable." Jim Telfer, who was Scotland coach by that point, considered that Laidlaw's ability to break was Scotland's sharpest attacking weapon in the 1984 Grand Slam, settling the match in the first twenty minutes. He was capped 47 times by Scotland. Partnership with John Rutherford Laidlaw partnered stand off John Rutherford a record 35 times for Scotland. As of 1988 this was a world record. This has since been surpassed following Finn Russell and Greig Laidlaw (Roy's nephew) starting together in the final pool A game at the 2019 Rugby World Cup against Japan on 13 October 2019 in Yokohama. Richard Bath comments: "every country has, at some stage, a double-act which sees two players through sheer longevity, become mentioned in the same breath... One of the most enduring partnerships was that of Jed-Forest's Roy Laidlaw and Selkirk's John Rutherford. For nigh on a decade, the two were immovable at half-back for Scotland. Unlike most of the other famous pairings, however, it was Laidlaw and Rutherford's differences rather than their similarities, that melded them into an outstanding partnership. On the one hand, there was the peerless Rutherford, all grace and poise, who could glide through tackles and drill a ball onto a sixpence in the opposition's 22. On the other, there was Laidlaw, a gutsy fighter in the classic Borders mould. The pair played together on 35 occasions, a world record for a half-back partnership." British and Irish Lions Laidlaw gained a place in the test team on the 1983 British Lions tour to New Zealand, after the loss of first Terry Holmes and then Nigel Melville to injury, playing in all four tests. In total he played in a notably high number of games; 13 of the 18. He scored two tries on the tour and captained the Lions team twice, in the victories over West Coast and Wairarapa Bush. Coaching career He was Head Coach of the Combined Scottish Districts side in 1996 when they played Australia in November at McDiarmid Park. This was the last time that the combined Scottish Districts team played; their match with Australia organised before the SRU professionalised its 4 home-based district teams into the Glasgow Warriors, Edinburgh