A Finntastic Day

KEEP THE HEID – ffs, we've beaten nobody yet, England and Wales are the two worst teams in the Guinness Six Nations. Ok, we won, but, as Jamie Ritchie said when wee Lee Mackenzie was interviewing him post-match: “We weren't perfect,” the squad themselves know, they have to find a lot more for France in Paris and Ireland at home.

Is he The Messiah, or just a very-naughty boy?

  

However, when things like the 'Finn Flip' come off, we can beat anyone. Now, Toony has some big decisions to make – for instance, does he stick with Stuart Hogg at 15, or, is it maybe time to give Blair Kinghorn a run in the jersey.

I felt the defences, on both sides, were immense. Wales made it harder for our backs than England did, while the way their forwards stuck to their guns when we were mauling was impressive.

Mind you, when Wales were putting us under pressure, our own defence was first-class, but, it will need to be even better against France and Ireland.

I also felt, referee Andrew Brace had a very-good game; he, like Wayne Barnes and Frank Murphy before him, is growing into international refereeing.

We are in a good place at the moment, but, onwards and upwards, let's enjoy tonight. Mind you, in the continuing interests of keeping the heid, can I point out a couple of things to all those celebrating Scotland's biggest win over Wales.

If 2023 scoring values had been in use back in 1924, when we had our previously biggest win over the Welsh, the score would have been 51-14. Alternatively, if the scoring values had been reversed, today, we would only have won 25-5. The try was only worth three points back then, and we scored eight that day.

I HAD half a mind to not watch the Under-20s match v Wales, from Scotstoun on Friday night. Then, when I switched on the iplayer, I got pictures but no sound for long enough and thought: “This is a subliminal message that I shouldn't watch this.” However, I persevered and got the right result.

Mind you, we won “ugly” as they say. I thought, as is so often the case at Scotstoun, that wind was worth 20 points and we certainly didn't use it as well as we might have in the first half.

I also thought our technical skills were not good enough for this level, but, that's a long-standing problem with Scottish rugby, and, at half time, I was really worried.

However, particularly in the field of personal discipline, Wales were a lot worse than us and they simply could not make their better technical skills count.

We did have one brilliant maul in the second half, while when our hookers read the wind correctly, we dominated at the lines-out. Richard Simpson's injury is worrying, we definitely suffered from his inability to kick, but, in the end, we got the result I felt we deserved – and we have one or two there, particularly Rudi Brown, Duncan Munn and replacement Johnny Rutherford, who could have big careers ahead of them.

The young Australian referee maybe didn't have his best game, but, the real duffers on the night were the BBC commentary team – they were awful, so Wales-biased it was embarrassing. However, since BBC Shortbread seems to believe “Sport” means The Bigot Brothers, the fact the excellent Jamie Lyall didn't get the gig was hardly surprising.

Phillipa Tuttiett, the former Wales Sevens player who was on “colour commentator” was particularly poor. The only colour she saw was the scarlet of Wales, not once in the entire game did she name-check a Scottish player. Myopic Welsh commentators are nothing new but this particular one took that to new depths.

Well, after two rounds, we've faced the two weakest teams in the U-20 Six Nations. We ought to have beaten England, we did beat Wales – now it gets harder with the three good teams: France, Ireland and Italy to come. But, maybe, now the boys know they can win, things will look up.

THE MATINEE FEATURE from Dublin on Saturday afternoon was everything you'd want and expect from a clash between the two top-ranked teams in the world.

It was brutal, it was intense and it benefited from having the world's top referee in charge – not that he pleased everyone, but, on balance, I thought Mr Barnes had a good game.

Sadly, that could not be said for the RTE match director. Had he done his job correctly, the TMO would have had access to the angle which proved James Lowe had a foot in touch when scoring in the first half.

Mind you, even if that try had been chalked off, the Irish would still have won.

We are used to British commentators complaining about French TV directors not putting-up angles which hurt French sides – well, we should all know, there's no way Paddy isn't going to miss a chance to game the system.

A final point in this game. I felt Gordon D'Arcy was almost English or Welsh in his bias in favour of the nation he used to play for.

FINALLY – there is a little local infection which is fairly common in my airt of East Ayrshire - “a rush of shite to the brain.” On Saturday it spread to that exclusive part of BT Murrayfield – the Bill McLaren Press Gallery.

The man who caught it was The Guardian's Michael Alwyn, who, in his match report, named the Scotland hooker as Chris Turner (sic).

Just confirms what we have long thought, to our Southern neighbours, in particular those unfortunates who get a nose bleed when they leave the M25 bubble. To them, Scotland is a small, far-away country, of which they know nothing and care even less.