I've Slept On It - Twice - And It Still Hurts

A JOINT family birthday party for myself and Number One Grandson, who turned 30 – jings Ah'm getting' auld – to some extent lifted the gloom which that Twickenham loss had planted on me; however, out-scoring Them three tries to one – which was the Rugby Union equivalent of that third goal in 1966 – ach! I'm fair scunnered.

This latest in a too-long list of matches in which Scotland has managed to claw defeat from the jaws of victory hurt just as much as all the others I have suffered in my long years in the Tartan Army.

Mind you, I have to put-in a wee aside here, how much tougher was it for the extended Elliot family. Tom Elliot MBE propped for Gala, The South, Scotland and The Lions. He went to his grave, convinced he was robbed of a match-winning Calcutta Cup try, between the posts, at Twickenham, in 1955. Max Boyce might with to note, it was a: “blind Welsh referee” who failed to award what, to everybody else looked like a perfectly-good try.

Insult was added to injury on Saturday, when Tom's grandson, Fin Smith, playing for England, kicked what proved to be the match-winning penalty, at the same posts. A penalty which was never a penalty in the history of Rugby Union. I am honestly still trying to decide which useless French policeman to reference in relation to Pierre Brousset's terrible refereeing performance.

Was it Inspector Clouseau level of incompetence, or was it Officer Crabtree level of impersonation? Discuss.

Sadly, ther whole “Disaster For Scotland” came down to a Scottish team, not for the first time, and I fear probably not for the last, failing to abide by one of ther principles of winning at sport – by “controlling the controlables.”

OK, Clouseau/Crabtree's officiating was not up to international standard; doubts will for ever more last over that English try and the award of their crucial penalty. However, we didn't control the controlables:

• Had Finn kicked even one of the three conversions he missed – we win

• Had we shown greater composure in England's “Red Zone” we turn chances spurned into tries scored – we win.

• Had we clocked, the referee was on our case when we were defending, far more than when England was under the cosh, adjusted our positioning accordingly, we concede fewer points and we win.

• Had our props adjusted their positioning, so we presented a better picture to the match officials of what was going on in the scrums, then we concede fewer penalties when they guess wrong, and – we win.

I regularly bring-up Jock Stein's warning to his star-studded Celtic team: “Do not give the referee an oportunity to make a decision which could hurt you.” That statement is as true in Rugby Union as it is in Association football, or indeed any team sport where there is a match official – on Saturday, again not for the first time, Scotland didn't pay heed to the Great Man's wisdom.

I don't like it when we lose to the Auld Enemy, but, there have been occasions when we have had to, no matter how reluctantly, accept that a particular England teram could play a bit, were better than us and deserved to win.

That lot that beat us, for all the excellence of the Anglo-Scottish Smith were a shite team, we were the better team, we beat ourselves and that really hurts.

ENGLAND'S wasn't the only big win on Saturday, up here, in the Arnold Clark National League One, Biggar's home win over Stirling County might have passed most people bye. However, I dare say it was met with unbridled joy in Clarkston, one of Glasgow's leafier southern suburbs.

Because that win meant that GHA could not be caught at the top of the table, and will be back in the Premiership next season. I am delighted for some of the many good guys around Braidholm; guys such as Head Coach Calum Forrest and Director of Rugby Ranji Jericevich; while up there in the Great Press Box in the Sky, Bill McMurtrie and Glen Stirling will be chuffed to bits.

A lot of people have put an immense amount of hard work into getting GHA back to the top and if nothing else, the battle for Weegie bragging rights between “The Mexicans from south of the Rio Grande” and the West End sophisticates of Glasgow Hawks, assuming they survive, will be an added bonus on the 2025-26 Premiership calendar.