Scotland 6 v England 13

The mantle of favourites never sits easy on Scottish shoulders and so it proved again on Saturday. The first Scottish side to lose at Murrayfield to England in four attempts and a narrow defeat to an inexperienced side. Not good enough. Scotland made over three times the number of passes that England did but England made twice the number of tackles. When you consider that England took their chances and Scotland failed what few they did have, then you know what happened. 


Andy Robinson walked up alongside me at a road crossing at the top end of Princes Street yesterday and I was just about to commiserate with him for the let-down from his players when I spotted his wife and decided not to pester him. I believe Andy Robinson is an honourable bloke with plenty of integrity and I suspect he might be planning on packing the Scotland job in at the end of this 6 Nations if he doesn't see any improvement on his last two years. It must be enormously frustrating to see your squad under-perform so consistently. Still, he can't feel as bad about things as Gregor Townsend. Townsend was an enigmatic player for Scotland who, in my opinion, flattered to deceive and who now has the grand title of "Attack Coach." Not quite sure what he's been doing with the players on the training ground but you have to wonder. A genuine lack of 'trying.' 


However, in spite of the rugby, it was a cracking day out all-in-all surrounded by a mixture of friends and family of all ages and backgrounds. We all enjoyed a long lunch followed by a few scoops after the match and an Italian meal at La Favorita in the evening where we managed to polish off a good few bottles of fruit-based drink. 


We all travelled north and south of Edinburgh yesterday by planes, trains and automobiles and all made it home in relatively good time in spite of the snow (I hope that includes Bill and Zoey who did have a delay in their Glasgow flight back to the Smoke).


At least Pete and I were able to smile about the cancellation of the Rochdale game. Amusing too, to think we avoided the snow in Edinburgh and saw the rugby when the Valley was frozen solid. Huddersfield drawing with MK Dons was an obvious bonus although Sheffield Wednesday's persistence in grinding out results is becoming irritating. The wheels will surely fall off their bus soon as it all goes wrong for the ginger Mourinho.