Jonny’s joy at lifting a nation
Jonny Gray was thrilled Scotland beat England in their historic Calcutta Cup match because they were able to lift a nation in difficult times.
The former Calderglen High School pupil says squad unity was the key to an 11-6 triumph earlier this month, which was their first at Twickenham since 1983.
Gregor Townsend’s side then followed that up on Saturday with a slender 25-24 defeat against Wales at Murrayfield, which leaves them fourth in the Six Nations table, ahead of their visit to France on February 28.
Lock Gray says Scotland are in a privileged position to be playing in the first place and had a unique opportunity.
He said: “We know that everyone in the squad – the staff, players, everyone involved – has a job to do.
“We’ve spoken about lifting a nation, and we realise how privileged we are, that we get to train and play together.
“We want to do that through our performances and we know the best way to do that is by performing and training hard, to try and get those results.
“We’re going to try and lift the nation [through the tournament}, because it’s tough out there. There are a lot of people going through some tough challenges.
“We realise, then, how lucky we are that we get to do what we do.”
On the Calcutta Cup win, Gray said: “The most pleasing thing was that it was one of the most, if not the, most complete team performances I’ve ever been involved in wearing a Scotland jersey.
“We spoke about the whole squad effort throughout the week, there was real intensity to training, and we realised the challenge as well, what was coming.
“It was a whole squad effort on the pitch, with everyone doing their job throughout; in the pack, the scrum, the set-piece, in the backs, the kick-chase - the basics.
“But everyone doing their job, in a complete team and squad performance was probably the most pleasing thing.
“To win there for the first time in that amount of years was unreal, but we know we need to back that up and improve in some bits.”
Gray says Scotland will take it one game at a time, and that there is a lot of work still to be done.
He added:”It’s exciting times. We knew we had to improve on the Autumn, because we started well in the first two games and then lost to France and Ireland.
“It’s a challenge for us, we’re playing against some tough opponents, and we know we need to get that right.
“Every team in the Six Nations is such a tough challenge, but when you’re playing against England – especially down there – we knew everyone had a part to play.
“Training was so intense, so challenging, but we looked at what went well, what we needed to improve on and painted the pictures of what we potentially might see.
“I thought throughout the whole squad, the staff, and everyone involved, it was a real squad effort, which is probably the most pleasing thing to see.”
Gray got some messages from Exeter Chiefs team-mates who are in the England squad, but he insisted there was no boasting about the result over the Auld Enemy.
He said: “I’ve been at Exeter for over six months now, I class all of them as my good friends, and I care about them a lot. I spoke to them briefly after the game, just on the pitch as we were walking off, because you can’t really meet up after the game.
“I’ve had a few texts and phone calls and they’ve said ‘congratulations’ but when you speak about the England team, I get to see first-hand how good these guys are, training and playing with them, and they’re such huge talents.
“When you look at that England team, the talent they have and the depth they have – those Exeter boys who were involved are absolutely world-class players and I class a lot of them as good mates, so it was nice to speak to them.”
There has been more good news this month for Jonny. Elder brother Richie has returned to the national setup after an absence of two years and seven months, following a series of injuries that left him fearing he might not play for his country again.
Cambuslang’s Bethan Goodwin played her part as Strathclyde Sirens made a great start to the Vitality Netball Superleague season with an opening weekend win at Severn Stars on Saturday.
The 36-30 win in Wakefield will have provided a massive boost for the Glasgow side, who lost 53-36 to Manchester Thunder on Friday.
After the 2020 season was cut short due to Covid-19, the various bodies have been working hard to allow the sport to safely return.
On Saturday, Sirens took a 10-9 lead, with Goodwin and Lynsey Gallagher in attack, and they finished the first half three goals up at 19-16.
Sirens remained in the lead at 26-22 at the end of the third quarter and they saw the game out by 36-30.
Goodwin’s influence appears to have been what swung it in Sirens’favour in the last quarter.
She created a great target in the circle and although Stars never gave up, Siren were able to stretch clear and grab the win
That added up to a good weekend for the Emirates Arena club, as despite the defeat on Friday night they took a lot of plaudits with Goodwin and Gallagher in particular receiving praise. Sirens are in action against Celtic Dragons on Sunday at 4pm.