Close But No Cigar

HOW typically Scottish; we have our best Six Nations for years and we finish-up slightly disappointed. Here's tae us – wha's like us right enough.

We finished fourth, on points difference, behind England, Ireland and France. In reality, we were probably third, but, who's complaining. The rain and slippery conditions in Edinburgh yesterday contributed to our failure to put more points on a pretty poor Italian side, but, given the number of players we have been without throughout the Six Nations, this has to be a good result.

The conditions dictated a kicking game, which meant the capacity Murrayfield crowd barely saw Stuart Hogg at his best, with ball in hand. But, there was the usual murmur of anticipation every time Hoggie got the ball.

Our backs were a lot better than they were at Twickenham, let's face it, they could hardly be any worse. Alex Dunbar made amends for his poor show in London, Huw Jones, had he not slipped, might well have had yet another international try, while Matt Scott grabbed his chance to impress when introduced for Jones.

Up front, Gordy Reid had another quietly-competent hour or so, as did Zander Fagerson, while the back row were collectively very good. I feel maybe Hamish Watson has played his way into the Lions squad, maybe not yet the Test team, but, his skills set will be useful in New Zealand.

Aye, Toony has plenty to build on when he succeeds Vern Cotter at the end of the season.

I WOULD certainly have kept BVC on until the 2019 World Cup, but, maybe there was indeed a chance we would lose Tonny if he wasn't promoted. We may well never know the full story. Any way, Cotter, almost the epitome of the quiet, taciturn Kiwi, has been very good for Scotland. We sih him well at Montpellier and we can guarantee, he will always receive a warm welcome in Scotland.

ELSEWHERE on “Super Saturday”, England going to Dublin on St Patrick's weekend were always going to find themselves facing an Irish team up for the challenge and determined not to lose. Yes, the men in white did well to put together that 18-game unbeaten run, but, as they closed-in on the All Blacks' record, aside from giving us a doing, they never really looked convincing.

A good team, yes, but, not yet a great team. A great team would have beaten Ireland and posted that new record.

That France v Wales game was all about the extra time and that 20-minute scrum. Personally, I thought Wonderful Wayne Barnes got his calls wrong on at least the third and fifth re-sets, when he penalised Wales, when it should have been France who sere pinged.

The way France made that change at tight-head stunk to high heaven, but, if Rob Howley was still thinking like a scrum-half, he's have manufactured a Welsh front row injury and got it to unopposed scrums.

By the way – when are John Jeffrey and his laws committee of World Rugby going to do something about the way teams milk penalties at the scrum. Remember, the scrum is supposed to be a means of re-starting play after a minor infringement. It was never meant to be a means of winning penalties.

It would be very easy to take milking penalties out of the game.

1. Only allow the ball to be held in the scrum at five-metre scrums.
2. If there is an offence, no penalty, other than a tap-and-go allowed
3. At the top end of the game, use overhead cameras to spot the borers and cheaters
4. Enforce straight feeds, and bring back hooking.

AND – while I am at it: BRING BACK REAL RUCKING, TO SPEED UP THE GAME.

ANY WAY, we are back to real, amateur, club rugby this weekend, with the BT Scottish Cup semi-finals. Bring it on.

Scunnered!!

WELL, what can we say about yesterday's Twickenham thumping? We were indeed sent homeward to think again, but, it's not as if we are unused to losing in London – the wait to write the boys of '83 out of the record books goes on.

How I rationalise defeats like this is – next year will mark the 60^th anniversary of my live introduction to cross-border sporting action. On 15 March of that year I was at Murrayfield to see Christy Elliot, that great Langholm winger, kick Scotland in front with a second-half penalty, only to see George Hastings, the great Gloucester tight-head prop reply in kind, in a 3-3 draw. Imagine a tight-head prop being allowed to kick an international penalty goal today.

In April of that year, my Dad took me to Hampden for my first Scotland v England football international, a game embellished by the future Sir Bobby Charlton's stunning volleyed first England goal, as the men in white won 4-0.

Look at some of the names in that first Murrayfield game – Ken Scotland, Geordie Stevenson, Gordon Waddell, Hugh McLeod, Hamish Kemp, Jimmy Greenwood and Adam Robson in the Scottish ranks and Peter Jackson, Jeff Butterfield, Dickie Jeeps, Eric Evans, Marques and Currie in the boilerhouse for England.

At Hampden, I saw Tommy Younger, Tommy Docherty and Bobby Evans in the Scotland team and Billy Wright, Charlton and Tom Finney in the English ranks – legends all.

Over the intervening period I have, I think, rationalised how things work when it comes to the oldest rivalry in international sport. Basically, if the English team is not weakened and they all play at something like their best – regardless of what we do, England will win.

For us to win, we need every single man in our team to be at his best, with several England players off the pace. Yesterday, too-many of our guys were off the pace or otherwise out of sorts, while, after “winning ugly” in their earlier Six Nations games, yesterday England hit something like their best form. They won well and deservedly so.

It is pointless us nit-picking about the one or two wee rubs of the green which went England's way, and against us. We were the architects of our own downfall, the Scotland performance wasn't so-much a bad day at the office, as the worst possible day at the office.

OK, we have been very-badly hit by injuries over the Six Nations – this compounded by the fact, the injuries have tended to come in areas where we lack depth. Vern Cotter faces a selection headache when it comes to picking a side to face the Italians on Saturday, and, dare I say it, our injury list just might give the Italians a chance which they certainly did not appear to have a week ago.

Full credit to England, however, you cannot put together an 18-game unbeaten run, and win back-to-back championships without being a good team. Yesterday they showed us they were just that – a very-good team. We should be magnanimous enough to acknowledge their talent, and congratulate them on their championship win.

However, Friday night's result from Cardiff, and yesterday's from Twickenham have, between them surely served to galvanise the Irish to deny England back-to-back Grand Slams and that new Tier One record of 19 wins in a row. It will be some game.

Elsewhere, our Under-18, Under-20 XV and Women's teams lost to their English opposite numbers, as did our Club XV earlier this month. OK, given the huge disparity in playing numbers, these reverses should not be surprising, but, it is a wee bit depressing.

We cannot hope to match the Saxons in playing numbers, so, we have to be a lot smarter in how we organise and play rugby, so our best talent gets a chance. Sadly, I see no evidence of the blazers at BT Murrayfield being able to turn things around any time soon.

Ach, Ah'm fair scunnered by it all.



CONGRATULATIONS to Melrose, who, on Saturday, got their expected win over Stirling County to clinch top place in the BT Premiership standings at the end of the regular season.

In the Premiership Play-Offs, they will now face Currie, who thrashed Boroughmuir to overhaul Champions Heriot's and clinch fourth place in the League and with it a Play-Off place. Ayr will entertain Glasgow Hawks in the other Play-Off semi-final.

  

We Need Not Fear Twickenham This Year

AN' FORWARD tho' Ah canna see, Ah guess and fear.

That is the traditional Scottish approach to this, Calcutta Cup week; we either await the descendants of proud Edward's Army, with a lot less belief than King Robert and his men had, or, round about Derby, on our trek south, we begin to question if this really is a good idea.

If you were a professional gambler, weighing-up your betting options on England v Scotland at rugby, well, if the game was at Trwickenham, Scotland's course and distance record would not be one of your considerations – with a record which reads: played 47 : won 4 – it is transparently clear, we don't do well on 'Billy Williams' Cabbage Patch'.

We haven't won there since 1983, and have only in fact ever won there four times: in 1926, 1938, 1971 and the aforementioned 1983. So, what makes this year different?

Well, for a start England is defending a 17-game unbeaten run, and, when a team is on that run, the longer it lasts, the greater the pressure – NOT to be in the team which eventually loses. England expects. Well, of course, England, particularly “Middle England”, “The Tory Party At Games”, “The Barbour Brigade”, “The Little Englanders”, “The Hooray Henries”, call the normal Twickenham constituency what you like – they always expect “The Paddies”, “The Taffs”, “The Frogs”, “The Eyeties” and “The Sweaties”, the Celtic Fringes and the barely-tolerated continental members of the Six Nations club to be shown who is top dog, particularly at Twickenham.

They bellow out God Save The Queen with strength and conviction; they are the Master Race, who have won first prize in the lottery of life – by being born English. They demand that the stout yeomen of England, clad in their pristine all-white, put these lesser beings in their place.

There is an arrogance built into the English psyche, more-so the public-school-educated English who are the backbone of the Twickenham crowd. And that is another weakness. If Scotland can get in about the English, knock them off their stride, cast doubts, the shock to the fans is such, they can get onto the backs of the players, spread even more doubts and, we can win.

I seem to recall, when we last won, in 1983, there was a typically sour taste to how the English took their loss. “Scavengers” we were derided, with John Jeffrey pointing-out – scavengers thrive on rubbish and England played rubbish.

This is a good, but not yet great Scottish team. We are well-coached, there is a togetherness about the squad, which extends beyond the match-day 23 to the rest of the extended training group. Yes, we have a clear weakness at prop, BUT, at scrum time England has perhaps the weakest front five in the Six Nations – Marler, Hartley and Cole will not subject our front row to the same pressures as Ireland and particularly France did.

I reckon we will enjoy if not merely parity, superiority up front, and, if Finn Russell is on-song, our backs will flourish. We can win this one, but, poor teams do not put together a 17-game unbeaten run, and it will be very hard indeed for us to triumph at Twickenham, regardless of how poor our record is there.

However, for once, I am not in: “We're awe doomed” mode as our caravan prepares to head south.

THE VAGARIES of the draw saved us from the predicted Top Four line-up in the semi-finals of the BT Scottish Cup, following Saturday's quarter-finals. With Melrose and Heriot's clashing, the expected top four in the BT Premiership were never going to all get through to the last four of the Cup.

But, as expected, Melrose, Ayr and Glasgow Hawks all got there, to be joined by Stirling County, who won what was always going to be the most-difficult quarter-final to call, against Boroughmuir. This one hinged on yet another controversial call by Graeme Wells, who is rapidly becoming the Willie Collum of Scottish rugby referees – although, I have even heard 'Muir fans admit, his decision to award County that match-winning Penalty Try was probably correct.

I was at Ayr v Jed-Forest. This one, went as expected, Ayr winning by six tries to one, even if the Jed touchdown was the pick of the bunch. The Millbrae Men always had too-much power and nous for a very brave Jed outfit, who did their wee toon proud.

What struck me was the difference in the physiques of the two teams. The Ayr XV, well, 14 of them, were toned, buff, clearly on a weight-training programme, some of the Jed pack were the fat boys of rugby folklore. I have noticed the same when viewing the National League 1 games on SRU TV.

To flourish in the BT Premiership, your players have to be semi-professional at the very least, fitting near professional levels of preparation into what is still a part-time, supposedly fun exercise. The quicker we gt the long proposed semi-professional league up and running, the better for the game here.

GOOD to see Glasgow get back to something like their best in beating the Dragons on Saturday, but, yet another disappointing display from Edinburgh against Ospreys. I do hope Richard Cockerill's hard-nosed approach works when he steps into the Edinburgh hot seat, but, I reckon his first appointment should be a sports psychologist, to get inside his players' heads and sort-out their ability to lose from winning positions.

Speaking of Ospreys – I would love to see Sam Davies, their brilliant young stand-off going on the Lions Tour as Number Two to Finn Rusell. These two might be prone to occasional bouts of madness, but, they have an inventiveness about their game, a determination to do the totally-unexpected, which, with great players around them, just might do for the All Blacks in the summer.

FINALLY, yet another layer has been added to the legend of Nigel Owens, with the great Welsh whistler “yellow-carding” the ball boy who hit him on the back of the head, when returning a ball to the action in the Leinster v Scarlets game at the weekend. Typically Nigel, the referee is making sure the ball boy gets his match jersey as a memento – how different from the attitude of fitba referee Dougie Smith, who actually did yellow-card Paul Gascoigne after the England star picked up Smith's dropped cards and flashed them at him during a Rangers game, all those years ago.

The difference in attitude – well, you could put it down to the difference between football and rugby, or, as I prefer to point-out, Owens was not traumatised, as Smith was, by having to take charge of umpteen Auchinleck Talbot v Cumnock games while on his way up.