The Thistle strangled the Rose… they never let the white shirts play
We’re getting quite used to this. The sight of a bunch of Scotsmen all alone in a sporting arena, the place completely deserted, big, daft grins on their faces, and on the latest occasion they’re holding up a cup.
Dads on a stadium tour? Or have they broken into the ground, jemmied the padlock on the gates, and this time burgled the trophy room? If so, who’snickinghamishwatson?
Notme,sarge,haveyouseen the way he plays? Barroom brawler. Total psycho. Martin Scorsesemusthavehisnumber on speed-dial for fight scenes.
Attwickenhamthatapplied to quite a few in dark blue. And at the final whistle, another hoodoo vanquished, Twickenham was just like Belgrade last November. The same joyous yelping into a void. How very Scottish.
Wewait22yearsforthefootballteamtoburytheirdemons, and 38 years for the rugby team to boot theirs into touch, and none of us is allowed anywhere near the venues for these historical feats. As a result, drinking in the home rockets some more.
Not just home drinking but home rule and hopes for it? Nicola Sturgeon, pictured, the captain of the SNP - small but swaggersome like Stuart Hogg, the captain of the triumphant XV - has despatched her telegram of hearty congratulation andwillbehopingforaboostin the polls for the May elections and beyond.
But never mind all of that - back to the rugby. When the first Scot to show, to go on the charge,wasgeorgeturner,the third-choice hooker, it seemed like something big might be happening. And if Cameron Redpath on his debut, demonstrating poise and confidence in inverse proportion to his youthfulness and skinniness, could stand up to Twickenham and its tortures then so could the rest of the team.
Redpath’s dad Bryan lost fourtimesthere.fouryearsago England racked up 60 points. Two years ago the greatest comeback in the history of everything was snatched from us inthefinalseconds.thenthere was the 2015 World Cup quarter-final against Australia, the ref’sshockdecisionfollowedby his sprint to the loo. Hopefully he’s still running.
Uh-oh, we thought on Saturday, this is only going to annoyengland.anyminutethey’ll swapthebigguysforsomereallybigguys.theydidbutitmade no difference. The thistle strangled the red rose, never let the whiteshirts play. No one could rememberwhenengland had last been this impotent.
Remember when Scotlandusedtogiveawaypenalties all the time? Remember when they used to drop the ball? I can’t recall a single fumble. We played with adventure when opportunities arose, intelligence when it was most required (such as when Finnrussellwentforhis wee lie down) and courage throughout.
Am I out of a job now? Part of this gig has been digging up cauliflower-eared veterans of our measly four previous Twickenham victories - Sandy Carmichael, PC Brown, Roy Laidlaw, John Rutherford, David Leslie, etc - to ask how they did it. I’ll try and find new reasons to keep that lot in our memories, but hail the new heroes.