No ABE Today - Get That Chariot Rolling

I FIRST bought into the endless battle in 1958, at Hampden Park: Scotland 0 England 4. At least, I saw Bobby Charlton's first stunning international goal, Sir Tom Finney working his magic on the English left and, from Motherwell's Jim Forrest, in his only international, quite simply the worst and most-anonymous display I have ever seen from a Scottish player.

Two years later, at Murrayfield, I had my first experience of live Scotland v England rugby - so, I have a bit of experience when it comes to watching cross-border sporting rivalry.

I have also worked in Wales - and found our Cambrian cousins by and large a bunch of ungrateful, ungracious in-breds. I then worked in Yorkshire and yes, the Tykes really are a bunch of brain-damaged Scots with a chip on both shoulders. Indeed, heretical though this may sound, the friendliest and most-generous English I have encountered have tended to be Londoners.

This has not stopped my default position on matters of an international sporting nature being ABE. I know, it might be pathetic, it is probably in the blood and incurable, but, Anyone But England is my preferred position, even when Scotland is not involved in a sporting contest.

However, this afternoon, in Cardiff, I shall be rooting for England. Cashier me from the Tartan Army if you will, but, a Welsh win would be bad for rugby, catastrophic for the forthcoming British and Irish Lions Tour (mind you, Gatland will probably pick a ridiculously-large number of his red-shirted favourites in any case) and thoroughly depressing.

They might not have met the expectations of the English press - and what a bunch of tossers they are - they are still very much a work in progress, but, I believe the current England team has the potential to be a very good one and a Grand Slam would be just reward for the terrific job Coach Lancaster has done since taking charge.

A Welsh win, on the other hand, would simply reinforce the Welsh belief that they are the Brazilians of world rugby, laughable though that is. This current Welsh team is hugely over-rated; as they showed at Murrayfield, they cheat outrageously.

For the sake of rugby, we need an England win today.

NOW, about us in Paris. Forward, though ah canna see, ah guess and fear.

I fear, in particular, that this is the night on which all the uncertainties and problems of the previous four games are cast-off and France play - like France at their best.

But, if we, as we are capable of doing, rise to the challenge and have a go back, this could be one of the great internationals. Even if it isn't a great game, let's hope it is an entertaining one - with nothing at stake, both sides can chuck it around and enjoy themselves.