I first remember watching the Five Nations as a teenager, back in the eighties. South Africa had only introduced television in 1976, with the apartheid government, in its Calvinist zeal, deeming it evil. Given the Kardashians and plethora of similar series, they may have had a point. My folks, bless ‘em only got a big, fat, shiny set replete with bunny ears and no remote in 1980, so my dad could watch the British Lions series.
‘White’ South Africa in those days was a shambles of ethno-nationalism, with Afrikaners dominating politically, English-speakers controlling much of the economy, a large Portuguese community that migrated here after Angolan and Mozambican independence, pockets of Italians who’d who stayed here after the Second World War (prisoners from North Africa were transferred here), very strong, if relatively small, Belgian (ex-Zaire), French (built our nuclear capacity and key dams, and gave us fighter jet and missile technology), German, Lebanese, Jewish, Zambian and Zimbabwean ‘whites’ (who still called themselves Rhodesian in the main), and a whole heap of first generation Brits, who came over in the sixties and seventies to work on the power stations, dams, mines, telecoms etc that the apartheid government was building.
The point? Amongst all these groups there was fierce sporting rivalry (and a fair amount of pub violence too), largely in football, which attracted huge whites-only crowds back then, but also spilling over into rugby. What of the rugby? The hair was big, the shorts were, er, not, the players largely looked normal-sized and there were no television match officials. It was glorious chaos. In South Africa, we had only the Currie Cup – a ferocious tournament at the time – and a handful of tours, with isolation starting to bite.
With an English mum and dad of English heritage, I naturally supported England in all matter sporting, so the early eighties were alright. Bill Beaumont led a grizzled pack full of policemen and other thugs magnificently! The Welsh wizardry of the 70s was waning, but still spoken of in hushed tones by our parents, Andy Irvine was my favourite Scot, Ollie Campbell and Tony Ward great Irishmen, but my oh my, it was Jean-Pierre Rives, the one and only J-PR, who stole hearts with his frenetic, fearless and gallant approach to rugby. It was a great time to be exposed to northern rugby. And Bill McLaren. The greatest sports commentator of all time? Certainly best UK one, in my books.
Watching those matches as the eighties meandered into the nineties, Scotland’s final hurrah in 1990 with the Grand Slam and a win over England (who I was backing, whilst my best mate rooted for Scotland) are some of my favourite sporting memories.
Fast forward to 2025, the Six Nations, the razzmatazz, the massive players, the huge squads, tactical subs, endless law changes, endless TMO reviews and endless bickering by fans on social media – it’s just not the same, is it? No. It’s completely different: and just as compelling. The skills on display, the crowds, the anthems (Flower of Scotland for me, just ahead of Land of Our Fathers and La Marseillaise) and the ancient rivalries, along with the addition of Rome and Italy make it a special tournament, to be treasured. Not to be fucked with. No relegation and promotion. No Springboks. Just as is. Progress and change be damned – the tournament is a beacon in a sea of endless repetition and tinkering.
And this year’s tournament promises to be a great one. France and Ireland or vice versa are favourites to win it, although most don’t expect a Slam, while Scotland (assuming they can keep 23 players fit) have a wonderful set of backs who can turn a Test on a tickey. The English media’s schizophrenic lurching between bombast and blubbering belies a side not far off being very, very good – capable, in my books, of beating any of the others on their day. In either hemisphere. Wales are rebuilding and will hope their arrested development turns the joke on someone else, whilst Italy have proven that on their day, they can play some magical stuff and trade it with the best. So as 2025 dawns, may young fans (of all ages) around the globe marvel at the likes of St Maro, Marcus Smith, Rabah Slimani, Julien Marchand, Louis Bielle-Biarrey, Antoine Dupont(!), Damian Penaud, Sebastian Negri, Juan Ignacio Brex, Ange Capuzzo, Caelan Doris, Josh van der Flier, Bundee Aki, Robbie Henshaw, Rory Darge, Jamie Ritchie, Darcy Graham, Finn Russell, Christ Tshiunza, Jac Morgan, Liam and Tomos Williams amongst so many others. Let these names be spoken of in hushed and fond tones as arguments echo down the ages, rivalries remain, growing stronger and closer: let the Six Nations speak on the field. Let’s enjoy one of the great sporting spectacles!
Reminiscences by deebee7, of course.
Onna telly this weekend
Showing matches that are televised in the UK and Ireland or on popular subscription services. Bold indicates that it’s on a free to view channel. Times are in the UK zone, so adjust as necessary.
Friday 31st January
| Scotland v Italy (U20s) | 19:15 | iPlayer |
| France v Wales | 20:15 | S4C, STV, ITV1 |
Saturday 1st February
| Scotland v Italy | 14:15 | BBC1 |
| Ireland v England | 16:45 | STV, ITV1 |
| France v Wales (U20s) | 20:10 | iPlayer, S4C |
Ovally Balls 
Shame Kinghorn looked the wrong side in the split second he had.
Darge seems to be everywhere.
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Yes! Number 3!
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Hell of a recovery from a well-stopped maul there.
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Nice work.
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Out the back pass from Cherry to White!
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DING! First mention of ‘farmer strength’.
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Will take that. Not brilliant rugby, but if we win with a bonus point and no bad injuries, that’ll take us into next week.
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19-12 now. Getting nervous.
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Oops!
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Fuck’s sake FINN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What have you done!
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Shades of last year now.
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Really missing Sione. He gives us so much structure, we don’t have that now.
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That’s better!
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At last!!! Darcy brilliant!
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Bugger, missed the start of the second half. Back just in time for Jones’ try.
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Jones again!
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Jones in for the hattrick!
Never in doubt!
(Ahem)
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A reel of all Huw Jones’ tries for Scotland must be quite something.
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This is the closest Italy have been to our line all game.
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Except for the time they went over it.
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Shame that Italy could not quite make the line to apply heat for the last few minutes
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Thaum – that was an interception try. They hadn’t been consistantly close to our try line.
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Comfortable enough win in the end.
Now it’s time to get really, really nervous.
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In all the years I’ve been watching Scotland we ALWAYS seem to struggle in the third quarter.
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Well played Scotland, comfortable in the end, but Italy looking there or thereabouts. They need to find a way to get Ange into space. Is it just me, or is Jonny Gray a lot bigger than he used to be ?
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Enjoyed that. Scotland did enough to keep Italy in it to make it an entertaining contest while scoring some lovely tries themselves.
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Excellent game. Some great tries by Scotland.
Italy can defend but they seemed lost with ball in hand, except towards the end.
As a foot note, I prefer the Top14 way of dealing with BPs. Here you don’t get one if you score 4 tries, but only if you score three more than your opponent. Makes a great incentive for the losing side as they try till the end to deny the winning team their BP by scoring tries themselves. And eventually get their own LBP.
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Flair – alternatively, as I have opined before, you could get a BP for each four tries you score. Or maybe a second BP after the 7th, then the 9th, etc.
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@Falir – I quite like the system you suggest, but it had little bearing on this game as Italy were playing to the end for a LBP in any case. I guess it would have meant a bit more jeopardy for Scotland, but they put in a spirited defence in the last few minutes anyway.
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BOD and Rory Best look like they’re having an extraordinarily hard time keeping a straight face while Eddie Jones is talking.
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This is going to sound mean but I don’t think Italy created too much. The three penalties in the first half were very soft, stupid mistakes on our part and then the intercept pass from Finn was a pure gift – there’s 16 of their 19 points.
A more consistent team than Scotland would have run away with that game. The fact that we began to creak in the second period was more down to the lack of leadership, the part where Sione Tuipulotu makes a huge difference. All teams have players out, but Sione’s absence cannot be overstated.
I’m not sure McDowall is the answer even without the leadership question. I’d like us to try either Tom Jordan or Rory Hutchinson next week in that inside centre position.
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@Ticht – Yes, Italy didn’t create much at all until the last ten minutes. To be fair to them though that’s perhaps partly as they chose to kick their penalties from 40-odd metres out instead of setting up attacking positions and that kind of worked for them up to a point. Scotland’s defence looked good apart from some needless pens.
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Think we looked better when TJ came on. I think as a player overall, he’s closest we have to Sione. Staff’s a big guy and a good player, just not as good as the other two. I like Hutchinson too, think he plays really well for Saints (and has even been playing 10 and kicking for them this season), but I’m not sure Toonie does.
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OMG, just managed to get to mute button in time as Dog save Chaz started
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Ticht, I was wondering if they’d had to bus someone over from England to sing that dirge, especially the ‘long to reign o’er’ us’ bit. Surely no self-respecting Irishman would.
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I think that was Finn’s worst game in a Scotland shirt that I can remember
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nerves
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Thaum can someone no take him out from the stands?
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‘My god, Hansen’s made a tackle,’ I said. Seems he’s injured himself.
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Ticht – hopefully he doesn’t return at half-time like something out of a horror film.
Yep, Hansen’s off.
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This could be a long match.
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Try on dayboo!
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Try England! Have to say they’ve deserved it on play so far.
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And that’s how not to receive a restart kids.
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Ireland are being a bit cute, at trapping players in the ruck.
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TRY Kelleher, and it eventually looked easy after all the rucksy-dropsies.
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Dirty cheats. 😉
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Oh. It looked easy because Itoje was being held. No try.
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Nice Kiwi. Ref
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Hansen coming back on?!!
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