Silencing the Auld Enemy a big deal for Scots

It was, not to put too fine a point on it, a distinctly ethnic afternoon of rugby, with the Welsh contingent in full voice up against an equally vocal Irish cheering section before the Six Nations match in Dublin.

And although they had only started to trickle in, the gloating England supporters were taking no lip from the scattering of Scotland fans seemingly dourly prepared to take yet another licking in pursuit of the Calcutta Cup, the venerable silver trophy of Indian workmanship, evident from the elephant and cobra decorations, first competed for by the nation straddling Hadrian’s Wall in 1879.

Turning away from the day’s Super Rugby programme – a decision not universally welcomed, but saved from the spectre of incipient fisticuffs by the simple expedient of splitting the channels at halftime as the Lions had produced a 40-minute performance against the Jaguares riddled with the type of errors you might expect from an under-coached school third team.

But, with the decision having been taken and in the true spirit of international relations, the Welsh support, led by Big Mark, a true son of Llanelli who was positively rubbing his hands in glee at the prospect of the men from the valleys seeing off the Irish. “I’ve been waiting for this one to put our campaign back on track after losing to England,” he said.

The Irish cheering section – as befits a side where the two nations, Ulster and the Republic, combine, often uncomfortably, to form one team – comprised a vocal Northern Ireland lass from Belfast and one with his Irish roots planted firmly in County Kerry.

The scene was indeed set, but the Irish rose to the occasion and from the Kerry Lad the opening strains of Come the Man and Come

the Hour from the stirring rugby anthem Ireland’s Call, grew increasingly louder and markedly less melodic as the men in green racked up a five-try 37-27 bonuspoint victory which effectively silenced the Llanelli Lad.

Nor surprisingly, there was no skirl of bagpipes from the Scots; the Edinburgh Exile and the Aberdonian, son of the Granite City whose austere countenance masks a sharp and puckish sense of humour. A ritual beating at the hands of the Sassenachs had become almost a rite of passage toward the depths of the Six Nations.

This time it was not to be. The Scots prevailed 25-13 and the local Scots in the stands at Murrayfield rejoiced. “Always great to beat the Auld Enemy,” remarked the Aberdonian, the light of battles long past glinting in his eye. Indeed.

But be that as it may, and even if the final weekend’s anticipated England-Ireland decider in the competition at Twickenham does materialise, the prevailing feeling after discovering later that the Bulls had edged the Hurricanes 21-19 in a thriller at Loftus Versfeld, was to hell with international rapprochement and viva Super Rugby ... but the European rugby fans might yet have something to say about that.