Category: Scotland Rugby

We turn the dial towards whimsy and revisit some of the moments that made the autumn internationals irresistible

South Africa and Ireland played out a slugfest for the ages and the discourse has been dominated by yellow cards and flying shoulders to the head. England held off a spirited Argentina to claim their 11th consecutive Test win and it seems all anyone can talk about is some alleged after-the-whistle shoving. Wales and New Zealand traded 11 tries in a ding-dong encounter and yet the narrative is weighed down by caveats concerning fading empires.

What, exactly, is the point of Test rugby? Beyond winning World Cups and regional crowns, does this chaotic sport hold any value? A bit of spice elevates almost every dish, sure, but it has felt as if this autumn’s brilliant rugby fare has been smothered in a sauce with a needlessly high Scoville count.

Continue reading...

• Scotland 56-0 Tonga

• Visitors given three yellow cards and one red

Duhan van der Merwe moved in front of Darcy Graham at the top of Scotland’s all-time try-scoring charts as Gregor Townsend’s side rounded off a disappointing autumn with an eight-try 56-0 win over indisciplined Tonga at Murrayfield.

The Scots’ series was always going to be defined by results against New Zealand and Argentina, so back-to-back losses in those two Tests meant the visit of a Tonga side ranked 19th in the world would be largely irrelevant in the final analysis – unless Townsend’s men were beaten again.

Continue reading...

Victory in Paris with 14 men showed what the world champions can still do, leaving New Zealand and others playing catchup

Some wins count double in terms of the message they send. And amid the blizzard of weekend Test matches it was Saturday night’s result in Paris that will resonate the longest in both hemispheres. Not only the outcome, either, but the manner of it. To say South Africa exploded a few cosy theories would be the understatement of the rugby year.

So much for the idea, for example, that France would avenge the injustice of their World Cup quarter-final defeat to the Springboks. That entering the final quarter with a narrow lead and an extra man would translate into inevitable glory. That even without their talisman Antoine Dupont they still had more than enough tranquiliser darts to keep the big beasts safely at bay.

Continue reading...

Having not beaten New Zealand in 32 attempts spanning 120 years, Scotland sense an opportunity despite the surprise absence of Duhan van der Merwe

It is 100 years since Scotland played their first match at Murrayfield, but that is the least of the monuments confronting them this weekend. New Zealand’s unbeaten record against them stands at 120 years and counting. Which is to say, Scotland have never beaten the All Blacks, and Saturday represents their 33rd attempt.

The good news is that Murrayfield’s centenary celebrations will culminate in its showcase fixture of the autumn with Scotland given as healthy a chance of victory as they ever have been against these tourists. True, that means little more than that victory has not been ruled out, but recent contests between these two (all at Murrayfield, it should be said) have seen a narrowing of the usual margin of defeat. At times over this past century, those defeats have been hideous to behold. Not so any more.

Continue reading...

• Ireland’s Caelan Doris making comeback from injury

• World champions South Africa play Japan at Wembley

It is back to where it started for Ireland. And by “it” we mean any kind of success against the All Blacks. With that, of course, comes credibility on the world stage, a status they still enjoy.

On Saturday night, UK and Ireland time, afternoon in the United States, Ireland take on New Zealand at Soldier Field in Chicago. Before any considerations of team news and vibes, the words Ireland, New Zealand and Soldier Field will transport many a rugby fan back not quite nine years. On 5 November 2016, Ireland, at the 29th time of asking, finally prevailed over the All Blacks, 111 years after their first shot at them. And how. No ugly scrap by a plucky underdog here, but an exhilarating 40 points and five tries under a Chicago sun.

Continue reading...

• Wales capitulate to their 18th successive Test defeat

• Scotland beat Māori All Blacks; Georgia 5-34 Ireland

Will Jordan scored a try in each half and Beauden Barrett kicked to perfection as New Zealand overcame three cancelled tries to claim a nervous 31-27 win over France in the series-opener in Dunedin.

Fielding only three players from the Six Nations title-deciding win over Scotland, the depleted France side gave Scott Robertson’s team a huge scare in an entertaining match at a sold-out Forsyth-Barr stadium. However, a late Barrett penalty proved enough for the All Blacks to hold on, ending a three-match losing streak against Les Bleus.

Continue reading...

• ‘Mighty Mouse’ led his country 19 times, winning 43 caps

• Part of successful Lions tours in 1971 and 1974

The former Scotland and British & Irish Lions prop Ian McLauchlan has died at the age of 83. The Ayrshire-born McLauchlan, who was known throughout the rugby world as Mighty Mouse, won 43 caps for Scotland between 1969 and 1979, captaining the side 19 times.

McLauchlan’s legacy was cemented on the victorious Lions tours of New Zealand and South Africa in 1971 and 1974, being one of only five players to feature in all eight Test matches.

Continue reading...

Flying winger brushes off allegiance jibes and cannot wait for Australia after a testing Lions tour in 2021

Duhan van der Merwe does not want to shake hands. It is not that the hulking Scotland winger is being rude – he is polite to a fault – but after a gruelling gym session the British & Irish Lion has blisters as big as golf balls. A fist bump – a touch daunting given the size of his biceps – must suffice.

Van der Merwe’s war wounds are the first indication that public perception about him can be misleading and there are many to follow in the ensuing half-hour. From an impassioned response to accusations he is a “SpringJock”, to discussing why he runs roughshod over England once a year, Van der Merwe is illuminating company.

Continue reading...

• 78-year-old says he has recently undergone radiotherapy
• McGeechan led four British & Irish Lions tours

Sir Ian McGeechan, the former head coach of Scotland and the British & Irish Lions, has urged rugby players and all younger men to get themselves tested after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.

The 78-year-old, who is the consultant director of rugby at the Championship club Doncaster, led Scotland to the grand slam in the 1990 Five Nations. McGeechan oversaw four series as the Lions head coach, defeating Australia in 1989 and South Africa in 1997. He also led the team on tours of New Zealand in 1993 and South Africa again in 2009.

Continue reading...

A tournament that has produced tries galore reaches its glorious climax on Super Saturday with England and Ireland hot on the heels of favourites France

The best Six Nations campaigns tick two crucial boxes. The first is a consistent sense of jeopardy from start to finish and the second is a level of entertainment that elevates the tournament into the mainstream consciousness. When both occur simultaneously, as they have done this year, the championship’s final round ranks among the most gripping days in modern team sport.

This particular “Super Saturday” certainly has all the necessary spicy ingredients, starting with the prospect of France’s second title since 2010 if they can beat Scotland in Paris. A bonus-point win for England over Wales in Cardiff, though, could yet be enough to sneak the trophy in the event of a breathless Scotland win. Which, from a Scottish perspective, looms as the ultimate catch-22 scenario.

Continue reading...

• Head coach addresses incident with Antoine Dupont
• Scotland make two changes for trip to Paris

Ireland’s interim head coach, Simon Easterby, has expressed disappointment with comments made by his France counterpart, Fabien Galthié, over Antoine Dupont’s injury. Les Bleus won 42-27 in Dublin on Saturday to end Ireland’s grand slam hopes and move into pole position for the Six Nations title. But the post-match discussion was dominated by the season-ending knee injury suffered by the France captain.

The 28-year-old scrum-half ruptured an anterior cruciate ligament when the Ireland forwards Tadhg Beirne and Andrew Beirne cleared out a ruck. Galthié said the actions of Beirne and Porter were “reprehensible” and reported the pair to the match’s citing commissioner, but no retrospective action has been taken.

Continue reading...

A victory at Murrayfield still left questions about Scotland’s performance

8 mins. It’s the turn of Wales to have some phases, mostly around halfway with the ball finding its way through the hands of most of the team. It doesn’t make much ground and eventually Schoeman clamps on in the ruck to win a penalty.

Joe Roberts has replaced Tom Rogers who is injured early.

Continue reading...

• Captain calls on his team to ‘create our own history’
• Assistant coach Tom Harrison: ‘there’s a nastiness to us’

England have vowed to show their nasty side against Scotland on Saturday with the captain, Maro Itoje, calling on his team to buck the trend of recent history by clinching the Calcutta Cup for the first time in five years.

Buoyed by their one-point victory over France last time out, England have been champing at the bit all week with Tom Curry saying there was an edginess to training on Monday and Ben Earl revealing the squad were subjecting to a series of video clips showcasing their failings in recent defeats by Scotland.

Continue reading...

Gregor Townsend seems to know just what is needed to unravel their Six Nations rivals with a peerless record

Among the many questions hanging over the 132nd Calcutta Cup, the hardest to answer might just be exactly how many times you need to beat the English before they stop thinking of themselves as favourites for the next game. Since Gregor Townsend took over as head coach, Scotland have been unbeaten in six out of seven matches, including, count them, the last one, two, three, four in a row. And yet the English have contrived a way to arrive at this fixture, which could yet be a record-breaking fifth defeat, as odds-on favourites with every bookmaker, and on a wash of pundits’ promises about how their forwards are going to “monster the auld enemy”.

Well, Townsend knows exactly what those laurels are worth, and is happy enough to let England have them.

Continue reading...

• Co-captain recovers from injury for Six Nations clash
• ‘Every brain injury is different,’ says Gregor Townsend

Scotland will have the one player they could not afford to lose for their Calcutta Cup match against England, after their medical team confirmed that Finn Russell has recovered from his concussion in good time to play for them tomorrow.

Russell suffered the injury in the first half of their game against Ireland in the previous round, when he collided with Darcy Graham, but he was found to be symptom-free 24 hours later, and has since completed a 12-day return-to-play protocol before recommencing full contact training while the team were away in camp in Spain this week.

Continue reading...