A Clash Of The Hemispheres

A story of some rugby memories as the Autumn Internationals series starts today.

A Clash of the Hemispheres

Rugby Union is a sport that I have always very much enjoyed watching but am certainly not as knowledgeable on as some others. I’m not entirely sure why this is as I watch the Six Nations avidly every year and also enjoy watching the World Cup each time it is played. I also try to make time each year to watch some of the Autumn Internationals, which for this year begin today with New Zealand travelling to Twickenham to face England, and Scotland hosting Fiji.

Perhaps it is because I don’t manage to find time to watch any of the domestic or European matches (apart from the occasional final), despite enjoying the internationals listed above. I suppose in the midst of family life, work and continuing hobbies such as writing, even a sports fanatic like myself has to make some choices about what they can actually make time for.

Over time, others have said to me that compared to some other sports, they find the rules of rugby more difficult to understand. I see this in a sense as although the basic scoring system is fairly simple, there are some finer points and intricacies to the game that can be difficult to follow or comprehend. Commentators do a very good job of trying to explain these to the less well initiated but some rulings can still seem a little confusing.

During my time at university (first time round) many of my friends either played rugby or were big fans of the sport so, understandably, I began to watch the game even more. I developed my understanding of what was taking place and began to differentiate a ruck from a maul and suchlike. This increased my enjoyment of the game a lot as I could hold my own more in discussions.

I have also had plenty of memorable experiences of going to watch rugby in person. Each year at Murrayfield, there is a special day where the finals of the Scottish Cup, Bowl and Shield are contested one after the other. This allows fans of all of the teams to gather and enjoy plenty of action and allows neutrals to see teams they may not have viewed before.

In 1999, just a couple of months after Scotland were victorious in the final Five Nations championship, my dad took me on the train through to Edinburgh for finals day. I’m not entirely sure how this transpired as dad has never really come across as a huge rugby fan and we didn’t really usually do such things together but, either way, we loaded up with packed lunches and refreshments and headed off.

Being my first live rugby experience, the first thing that struck me was that fans of all teams mingled together happily which was greatly different to the football matches that I went to more regularly. There was a real family atmosphere and there were stalls with face painting, music, and even opportunities to meet some of the Scottish international heroes. It was a nice day so it was enjoyable just to sit on the grass and relax and watch people go by.

I don’t remember too much about the action itself in the first two games but have enough memory to say that I really enjoyed it and wanted to see more. What I do remember more was the actual Cup final between Gala and Kelso. In my mind it was a bit of a war of attrition that was decided by a sole penalty by soon to be Scotland hero Chris Paterson right at the end for Gala to win 3-0. This is the story I’ve always told as it was certainly unusual to get such a low scoring rugby match. Having looked back in preparation for this article though it seems I was slightly wrong. It certainly was a war of a game but Kelso actually took a 3-0 lead and held it for most of the 80 minutes. Then, 4 minutes from time, Paterson actually took the ball over for a try and then added a late drop goal to make the final score 8-3 to Gala. Still the same hero, still the late finish, just a slightly different score.

Either way I had a great day out and was certainly keen for more. This actually happened twice during my uni days as some friends and I again visited Murrayfield for finals day but this time with some invested interest as people we knew were actually playing for teams involved. It was great to cheer on our pals and each time I had a great experience, although on both of these occasions there was certainly a bit more beer involved than when I went with my dad!

I have also been to Six Nations matches on a few different occasions, with two in particular standing out. For a period of time following my travelling adventures, I worked in a pub in Dundee and near the start of the tournament one of my workmates suggested we go along to Scotland v Italy. We all donned our kilts, had a slap-up breakfast and got the bus through to Edinburgh for the day, ready to have some fun. We revelled with home and away fans and were pleased when Scotland came out on top with a resounding victory. The sound of bagpipes filled the air as we headed back to town to continue our merrymaking. Our bus home was not until later so quite a few more pints were sunk and by the time we boarded we were all three sheets to the wind. The journey home flew by but as we pulled into Dundee, we realised that one of our colleagues had fallen asleep. In our clouded states, we briefly considered leaving him on the bus to wake up at its final destination in Aberdeen but, luckily, common sense got the better of us and we woke him.

On another occasion I watched Italy again, but this time they were facing Wales at the Millenium (now Principality) Stadium. I was there for the stag do of a university friend and it was a great weekend. At the time I was still working outside London so I had taken a coach across on the Friday night and met the boys out on the town. The next day was the main event though and the atmosphere in Cardiff was absolutely brilliant. Red shirts were everywhere and there were also plenty of folk with daffodil headdresses. As we walked towards the stadium, everyone was in high spirits and when we entered the noise was incredible. I have genuinely never heard singing that loud. Wales were the defending champions and heavy favourites in this, the tournament opener. They started off brilliantly but a spirited Italy came back in the second half. Happily for us and our hosts though, the home team hung on to win, ensuring that celebrations went on into the night.

In terms of Autumn Internationals, I have actually only ever been to one, again at Murrayfield. It was 2008 and Scotland were playing the reigning world champions, South Africa, who had already beaten Ireland and Wales on their tour that year. Their team included powerful defensive giants such as Bakkies Botha, Victor Matfield and Bismarck du Plessis and boasted the attacking talents of Bryan Habana and Francois Pienaar and was certainly intimidating. The stadium was filled with its trademark swirling wind and was absolutely freezing. It didn’t dampen the crowd though and perhaps the two things combined into a perfect storm as Scotland took a first half lead and gallantly tried to hold on. The Springboks pushed late though and eventually ran out 14-10 winners but the Scots could certainly hold their heads high.

Moving back to this year’s matches and it will be interesting to see how both of the home nations that are playing today begin. Both teams finished in the middle of the Six Nations table earlier in the year (Scotland particularly will have expected to have done better) and now is the chance to see how any changes made will play out.

A bit of extra spice was added to the England - New Zealand game earlier in the week when Joe Marler made comments that the Haka should be scrapped and that it was ‘ridiculous’. This will have the All Blacks even more keen to put on a strong performance, especially as they have not been as dominant as usual recently. They will certainly be the favourites here as England have only beaten them once in their last 10 meetings, although that was arguably the most important as it was the semi final of the 2019 World Cup. England still seem to be very much a team in transition under Steve Borthwick so we will have to wait and see how this plays out.

Fiji are traditionally more renowned for their accomplishments in the Rugby Sevens discipline, but did this year win the Pacific Nations Cup, beating Japan (who have produced many shocks themselves in recent history) in the final. Whether they will have enough to beat Scotland is a different matter as the Scots will be looking for a strong Autumn series to build towards another Six Nations push in the new year. The team, led by new captain Sione Tuipolotu and including dangerous attackers Darcy Graham and Duhan van der Merwe, will want a good start.

The algorithm at the Sports4Cast, who I also do some writing for predicts the results to be as follows:

It will be interesting to see what transpires.