England 22 Scotland 16

A memorable day out with my wife and seven friends at Twickenham yesterday. The tickets I had were in what's loosely called the "visiting union" section and we were in the Upper Tier, just a couple of rows from the back.

What a view, in what is a tremendous stadium since the South Stand was completed. For me, it's the second best ground in the country to Wembley (and The Valley of course). I was able to enjoy a decent Scottish performance for a change which kept the match competitive until the end. A moment of individual creativity, if not brilliance, meant a Scottish try to savour from Max Evans but we were out-kicked at the finish and England deserved their win which gives them a Grand Slam chance in Dublin next week. Oh to be in your shoes! Instead I will head north for the Battle of the Wooden Spoon which, preversely, I am quite looking forward to having come to terms with another inconsistent 6 Nations campaign. It should be a heavyweight forward clash at Murrayfield, something the game was very short on yesterday. I can't remember a meaningful drive from either side and the line-out plays seemed tame and very direct in terms of ball to the backs.  


We retired to the Scrum Bar under the stand at the whistle and carried on drinking to the strains of Tom Jones. The idea was to let the crowd go down but we still queued for 100 yards at Twickenham station at 7pm. Maybe those who left on time got clean away?


On a different note, I see Aidy Boothroyd has been sacked as Coventry manager this morning after only one win in 16 games which has ended their chances of promotion and pushed them close to a relegation battle. The obvious comparisions will be drawn but I prefer to concentrate on the fact that Boothroyd is the tenth manager in ten years at the Sky Blues and it's got them nowhere. If we are not careful we could easily emulate that before 2016. Powell is number six following Curbs, Dowie, Reed, Pardew and Parkinson just in case you're wondering.