Playing under one flag could threaten the union

RUGBY is just a game, as the saying goes, but that doesn’t mean it is bereft of history as an agent of political change.

Nelson Mandela, no great lover of the oval ball or the Springbok jersey during his long decades in the heat of the anti-apartheid battle, recognised the importance of harnessing the power of both as he strove to unite a volatile South Africa in the mid-1990s. In the different vein, it is widely acknowledged that New Zealand governments are more vastly popular when the All Blacks are going well. To which we can only say: farewell Jacinda Ardern, nice knowing you.

The question, therefore, is this: will the Union code, in its seven-a-side manifestation, contribute to the downfall of Nicola Sturgeon in Scotland and the stunting of Plaid Cymru’s growth in Wales?

Last week’s news that England and her neighbours on the British mainland will compete under one flag on the World Sevens circuit from 2023 could be read as a “Better Together” message written by a high functionary in the Cabinet Office. Short of covering Murrayfield in a massive Union Jack on Calcutta Cup day or banning the Welsh language in the vicinity of the Principality Stadium, the point could hardly be more obvious.

It puts a whole new slant on the “World in Union” public relations campaign, that’s for sure. But if the SNP win their fight for a second referendum on independence, how will it play out on match day? We could see the first known instance of a fight breaking out with only one team on the pitch.