Yet Another Huge Disappointment, To Add To A Long List

MY LATE father was a near-original member of Scottish football's Tartan Army. The sporting TA only became possible with the great railway grouping of 1923, in which all the small, localised railway companies amalgamated to form the “Big Four”: The Great Western, Southern, London Midland Scottish and London and North Easter Railway companies.

Only then was seamless travel from Scotland to London possible, and, in 1928, the Old Man joined-in the pilgrimage to see a fairly unrated Scotland team avoid the wooden spoon in the Home Internationals, by thrashing England 5-1.Dad ran the local Wembley club, whereby the local miners, iron workers and farm workers etc saved for two years, for the bi-annual long weekend in the Imperial Capital, with a bit of fitba thrown-in.

Ken Scotland - a star in the first Scotland team Aristotle ever saw live

He didn't see another Scotland win for five visits, and only saw two more before deciding, after the 9-3 gubbing in 1961 to allow his sons to take-up foot soldier duties. I got it worse than him, Dad wasn't interested in rugby, but, I have, since my first Scotland football match: 4-2 v Spain, World Cup qualifier, Hampden Park, 8 May, 1957 and my first rugby international 6-5 v Wales, Murrayfield, 7 February, 1959, endured double the pain he ever had to endure.

So given I have been a TA foot soldier with Scotland for over 60 years, forgive me if I don't get carried-away on the misery bus going the rounds following yesterday's loss to the Welsh. I have floated out of Murrayfield on a cloud of ecstasy following a great win, then returned two or three weeks later, only to trudge away disgusted. They don't tell you,when you sign-on for the TA, it's going to be a roller-coaster ride.

Sure, yesterday was disappointing, but, I've been there before, and fear I will be down Misery Alley again before I check-out – it' part of the price we pay for being part of The Greatest Wee Nation God Ever Put Breath Into.

I look at that Welsh team yesterday. You put them in their club colours, our players in theirs - and we can take them. The Alun Wyn Jones who plays for Wales is a different animal from the AWJ who plays for Ospreys, and that also applies to many of his team mates.

Alun Wyn Jones - a diffrent animal in that strip than in an Ospreys' one

What we need to discover is: how come so-many of our guys can look like giants in the colours of Edinburgh and Glasgow, and pygmies in navy blue? If we can solve that riddle, we might get somewhere internationally.

But, at the end of the day, when you sign-on for the TA, it's the hope that kills you. We keep hoping for that great result, and we keep being let down. At least, going forward, it's England, at Twickenham, next up. That's definitely a case of: “Furrit tho' Ah canna see, Ah guess and fear.”

Look at the relative strengths of yesterday's XVs. You might be able to make a case for a fit Leigh Halfpenny at full-back for Wales, Rhys Webb at scrum-half and Taulupe Faletau at number eight – and the way Liam Williams is playing, Halfpenny's place is far from a given; otherwise, your ideal Welsh XV would be pretty-much that which took the field yesterday. My ideal Scotland team would show eight changes from the one Toony sent-out yesterday.

If I was selecting a composite XV from the two starting line-ups yesterday, Darcy Graham, Finn Russell and the entire front row would be the only Scots getting picked. Yet, they only just beat us, with the help of at least one dubious try, some terrible mistakes by us and the help of a referee who allowed Wales to cheat outrageously.

By the way, it is suggested to me, that I am always awfully sore on referees. Maybe so, but, why is it, we don't cheat as well as other countries? In any case, the Laws of the Game are in such a mess, the referee's job is, in many areas, a case of guess-work: in which case, the team presenting the better “picture” to the official gets the decision.

WP Nel, unjustly penalised in a couple of scrums

There were a couple of scrum penalties awarded yesterday where, from the overhead view of the engagement, Rob Evans was clearly struggling against WP Nel, but, got the penalty. A couple of times, Scottish players were pinged from not rolling away from the breakdown, when there was at least one Welsh player holding them in. We don't seem to get these decisions – why not?

But, let's be positive. We did learn one or two things yesterday. If Hoggy is not going to be fit for Twickenham, I'd play Adam Hastings at full-back, he looked very comfortable there and, unlike Blair Kinghorn, he can off-load out of the tackle, and make the last-ditch covering tackle in defence.

Also, I really think it is time Jonny Gray was rested, he is clearly running on empty, while Hamish Watson must start at Twickenham. And, as one who has championed the Wee Man since I first saw him in a Hawick jersey – I was absolutely delighted yesterday, when he scored the first of what I am sure will be many Scotland tries. “Guid gear comes in sma' bulk,” right enough.

Darcy Graham

I suppose the best way to sum-up yesterday was, for we Scots it was another reminder of the truth of the words of that most English of poets, Rudyard Kipling:

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;

You're unlikely to be Scottish, because doing that has always eluded us.