‘Drookit’ Nicol lifting the cup was Six Nations weather at its worst

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Rugby is traditionally a game for players of all sizes and shapes and one played in all sorts of weather. In the professional game the first of these traditions is no longer quite what it was.

When did you last see an 11, or even 12 stone centre threequarter? Would there be a place for a genius like Jim Renwick in the modern game? Even scrum-halves are often more than six feet tall; I can remember a Springbok one, Tommy Gentles, who had to stand on his tip-toes to be over 5 foot tall. England now have a full-back, Freddie Steward, who is 6ft5 and weighs 17 stone; he would have been seen as a mighty lock in the days of Gordon Brown and Willie John Mcbride. Quite an athlete too, I have to admit. As for forwards, you now have props almost twice the weight of Hugh Mcleod, the first Scot to win 40 caps and who represented the Lions, first in New Zealand, secondly in South Africa. Times change.

The Six Nations, however, remains much as it was when there were only five. The tournament is still played in February and March, though there has been an occasional match in January and even in April, this usually on account of an earlier postponement. Consequently every year there are some matches played in vile weather. There was a time when the order of matches was always the same, Scotland playing first France, then Wales, Ireland and England. Actually we quite liked getting France at Murrayfield on the first Saturday in February or even the last in January. The men from the Midi, as almost all French players were then, not always caring for Scottish winter weather.

If the Six Nations is the great showpiece of international rugby in the northern hemisphere, it’s a bit odd to stage it at a time when some miserable weather is all but guaranteed. This year there are three February rounds of the tournament. A few years ago there was a Calcutta Cup evening match at Murrayfield played in weather so vile you’d have been reluctant to take a Labrador away from the fireside. Of course, the vagaries of our climate are such that I’ve never been colder at Murrayfield than on a Calcutta Cup match played on April 2 – it had, I think, earlier been postponed. In the second half there was torrential rain with deep pools of water lying on the pitch. Scotland won and when Andy Nicol went to collect the cup he looked a drookit shivering beastie.

As for mud, back in the old days when Wales played their home matches at the old Cardiff Arms Park, Bill Mclaren remembered a heroic performance by Eck Hastie, the Melrose and Scotland scrum-half, who “must have almost drowned once or twice when he ended up face-down in the mud” with – of course – the Welsh forwards trampling over him. Ah, the happy amateur days? He’d have been back at

Andy Nicol lifts the Calcutta Cup at Murrayfield on April 2, 2000. Above left, England fullback Freddie Steward is one of the big men of modern rugby work as, I think, a joiner on the Monday morning.

I remember another lovely day in 1957 when a howling gale blew snow storms over the field from start to finish. Jimmy Maxwell of Langholm had been picked for his first cap as a brilliant running flyhalf. Some hope; early on he had to exchange places with the centre Tom Mcclung who at least had a big boot and I doubt if Maxwell ever received a pass. He was never picked again, poor chap.

Well there is no chance the Six Nations will be shifted to a bit later in the season when there might be some better weather. This year there are three matches in February, with us starting our campaign in Cardiff. At least the stadium will no longer be a swamp, but heavy and persistent rain, sometimes accompanied by a strong wind, is not unknown there. We can only hope for a mild day and even sunshine, not quite unknown even in a Welsh winter – and they have of course a roof they can close if the visiting team consents.

Anyway even if some of the Six Nations matches are played in horrid conditions we can console ourselves with the thought that though international rugby may no longer be a game for players of all sizes and shapes, it is still – except when they close the Cardiff roof – played in all sorts of weather and so demands the same resolution and varied skills it has always demanded of the players.