Welsh versus Scots

Well, the leeks thrashed the thistles at the Six Nations Rugby Championship today. Although I don't know that much about rugby rules, it's always a thrill to see the right wing break away from the ranks with that oval-shaped ball and run for the touch line, whatever the side.

I have an impressive family history of watching rugby. My grandfather would take my two year old mother to games, perched on his shoulders. My parents went to each Murrayfield game for as long as I could remember. My mother was such a devotee that she learned the first verse of the Welsh national anthem ( in Welsh) just for these matches. And I love watching the game at national level, safe in the knowledge that no-one I care about will be caught up in a six-deep life-threatening collapsed scrum.

There are several games which linger in my memory: the one I travelled over from Dundee to watch, with a rugby-loving boyfriend. During the match a sore throat suddenly became unbearably sore, and the guy, a newly-qualified doctor, had to drag himself away to care for me. The other game was in 1990. The plan was that my mother and I would go to Murrayfield to watch the Calcutta Cup - which for non-rugby readers is the Scottish-English match. If Scotland won, they would win the championship as well as the Calcutta Cup. As fate decreed I had been blighted by a hacking cough during the preceding weeks and when I mentioned to my GP my strong desire to go to the match, received a blistering reply that if I did, I would have this cough for months. Despite my absence, the Scottish team won the match. I don't think I've been back to Murrayfield since that season, which is perhaps why Scotland never seems to play particularly well at Murrayfield.

Today's match featured the Welsh team singing out of sync with the orchestra, and then just to prove that anything the Welsh could do, the Scots can do better ( except play rugby) the Scottish team sang Flower of Scotland several bars ahead of the orchestra. And I don't think Princess Anne, Patron of the Scottish Rugby Union, and, as far as I know always attends Murrafield games, will be particularly happy if she sees the footage of her on the telly.

Ponderingly yours


Jane