GordonS

Anyone who says "the game's gone."

You're right, that is a paranoid delusion. There's literally no evidence for this. Where do you get you information? Facebook? That's not what I've seen from polls - this one is typical: Remain 66% (Yes 72%, No 60%) Leave 34% (Yes 28%, No 40%) https://www.drg.global/wp-content/uploads/Tables-for-publication-060319.pdf

I think Conference C get the best draw, with a week between matches and the likely best opponent at home, so it's not as balanced as, say, a home-and-away with an even number of teams. But it's not so unbalanced that it's worth bothering about.

I didn't literally have my fingers crossed. It was all my fault.

It would be if it were between two huge rivals, in a competition that sport took seriously worldwide, and if the trailing team had come back to lead 6-5 before being pulled back to 6-6 in injury time.

There's definitely a strain in the Scottish mentality that says "you'll never be good enough" and I think it cost Andy Murray a few grand slams. He didn't believe he was on the same level as the others in the big 4. He was right, but being conscious of it caused a few bottle crashes against them in the early years. Contrast that with Wawrinka who got three chances in his whole career and took them all. I think that until recently Andy didn't see himself as a peer of the second rank greats like Edberg and Becker, even though he definitely is. So yeah, there's something in that. But we don't all have it and I'm sure Finn Russell and Ali Price don't!

Only one team wins any tournament; everybody else has the story of how they lost. You think that list is bad, you should see Italy's. And for a pretty small country, we do alright. We didn't lose yesterday, it was a brilliant comeback away from home against a top side. We didn't lose at Hampden in 2017, with possibly the biggest gulf between the sides in the history of the fixture. Andy Murray, Jamie Murray, Chris Hoy, Laura Muir, Kathrine Grainger - all among our recent world beaters. Our cricket team beat England last year. Our women's football team are a top seed in Europe. We do alright. We could and should do better, especially in men's football, but we're above par.

Given the demented scoring, it was like that game if England had led 5-0 and it had been 5-1 at half time, with it finishing 6-6. It was the biggest margin ever recovered in the history of international rugby, and ended in the highest scoring draw ever. It's the most points and tries we've ever scored against England, home or away. England held their biggest ever half time lead over us. It was Scotland-England multiplied by Motherwell-Hibs.

The penalty that gave them the kick to the corner on 80:00 was for hands on the ground by Fraser Brown. It looks fair enough. The ref yells "no!" then after the whistle says "at first you were ok, but then you played it on the ground." On 81:20 there's a penalty for what the ref calls "stopping the maul." I think he means pulling it down. I can't see the offence but there's a Scotland player right in the middle with his backside sticking out. On 81:51 there's another penalty, a new advantage right in front of the posts, against 16 blue (Brown again) for not rolling away. You can't see what happened on the broadcast but the ref is right on top of it. There's evidence in here of why McInally is the starting hooker over Brown... As for the Aussie QF, it was a wrong decision and a cruel blow, but I've made my peace with the ref. In real time it did look like it had gone forward off a Scottish hand and neither of the commentators said anything about it until the replay. The ref didn't have the option of the TMO for it.

Given that we've got Jeanfield home and away it's a big assumption, but aye, Broxburn would need quite a few 4-0s to catch Rose's goal difference.

One of the many fantastic aspects of this, and winning last year, is we now live rent free in England's head. Imagine what the talk will be ahead of them coming to Murrayfield next year. And there's no lead they can build up, no dominance they can have, that won't set off a wee voice in their head saying "we've been here before."

Would England have been so off the pace in the second half if there had been a championship on the line? But yes, that would have been the best thing ever.

Thing is, that's *exactly* what the English players thought. At half time their heads were back at their clubs. Nobody ever gets to question The Finn. Ever.

'Ignore' is your friend.

It's not peak anything. It's the realms of utter fantasy. It's a match without parallel in over 140 years of international rugby.