TWO MINUTES OF FERVOUR THAT I WILL NEVER FORGET

THAT was so very close! The last two minutes might just be the best 120 seconds of rugby and excitement I have seen at Murrayfield ever. To score a try as good as when Huw Jones touched down from a beautiful grubber kick from Stuart Hogg and pass from Tommy Seymour was one thing, but to almost go the length and so nearly manage the equalising score to potentially win the game was amazing. When Hogg received the inside pass from Jones and put on the after-burners, for a moment I thought he was in. The noise inside Murrayfield was incredible as the star player was in full flow. The fact he was stopped by a match-saving tackle by a world-class player tells you everything about the quality of the opposition. Scotland had the best side in the world scrambling to save the game. It was an uplifting performance and the team answered many of the questions I had posed in my column on Saturday. Scotland can score tries against the best; we can defend heroically; Finn Russell is going to be some player and Hogg is one of world rugby’s hottest properties. To be that close to beating the All Blacks is all the more remarkable when you consider the injuries Scotland had to deal with. We finished the game with a front row that you would never have imagined at the start of the season, with hooker Stuart McInally reverting to the back-row position he used to play. The whole pack, played a huge part but Jonny Gray and captain John Barclay were immense. You could look at it as a missed opportunity to beat the All Blacks for the first time. But I prefer to savour the moment of this Scotland team throwing everything at the best in the world, getting the whole stadium on their feet and coming within a whisker of winning. That is progress.