Gudday Cobbers,
Welcome to the match pre/review for the 3rd Test of the Wobblies 2024 Northern/Autumn Tour, wherein our recently somewhat less wobbly Wobblies will take to the hallowed turf of the famous Murrayfield Stadium, a wee bit to the south west of Edinburgh castle, at 1340hrs (Eddy local time) on Sunday 24 November, along with the ever-accommodating local bearers of the Sgian Dubh (literally ‘the faeries sword’) and wearers of the Scots Thistle, to frolic about and butt some heads in the bracing and salubrious Scottish sunshine.
I’ll publish this first iteration on Friday 22 Nov afternoon (Syd time) and then come back to do ‘live updating’ during the match itself on Monday morning (Syd time).
Preamble:
As at writing on Friday 22 Nov, the tour has gone surprisingly well for the Wobbs so far. We got off to a cracking start a fortnight ago with a ‘so late it was after hours’ 42-37 win for the ages over the Soapies at Twickers itself. And from the general noise afterwards you could have been forgiven for thinking we had answered alchemy and that some kid from western Sydney called Joey Suaalii was akin the 3rd coming of Christ Himself (after Dizzy Folau).
From there we did donnybrook with Tîm rygbi’r undeb cenedlaethol Cymru (EP?) at sunny Cardiff last weekend. And given the Taffies recent form had been hardly inspiring (as they had not won a single test so far this year), it was of no real surprise when the Wobbs came away with a win over the struggling Welsh Dragon. That said though, winning by 52-20 did raise an eye-brow or two both in scoring +50pts, but also in letting a team that dysfunctional score 20pts against us. But another win it was and given the parlous state of our trophy cabinet in recent years, a welcome win it was at that.
And so here we find ourselves contemplating Murrayfield, at 2 wins from 2 starts and newly installed at a dizzyingly high 8th in the world rankings, lining up against the irrepressible Jarpy Exiles Australian Exiles Scots, ensconced in 6th spot and who had shown reasonably good form of late by accounting for the likes of Fiji (57-17) and Portugal (59-21) whilst making a good show, but ultimately going down to South Africa 32-15 some 3wks ago.
Having an eye to history, we first ceilidh with the lads in funny skirts back in October 1929 (won 16-15 by the Wobblies) and have since exchanged pleasantries some 34 times, with the honours split as 22 wins to the southerners and 12 to haggis eaters. In more recent times, since 1998 actually, we’ve battered each other over the Hopetoun Cup, a fine piece of Royal Doulton named after John Hope, 7th Earl of Hopetoun (1860–1908) who was the former Governor-General of Australia and presided over Aussie Federation in 1901 (y’know, the family BBQ that neither New Zealand or West Australia showed up to and have never quite explained why). Over that fine lump of crystal we have battered each other some 16 times with the Wobbs carting away the crystalware 11 of which. That said, our last 10 meetings have heralded a Scots revival with the wins much more evenly spread at 5 a-piece, including one win to the Wobbs on a wee evening in 2015 from-which the Scots still feel hard done by and just can’t seem to let go.
But history means little in a two-horse race. And it means even less when you’re eyeing off some random Begbie-wannabe hardcase in a pub behind the Haymarket Rail Maintenance Depot with his handful of Jarpys, a couple of Ockers, the requisite Kiwi and a few locals in close tow. So, let’s get it on!
See you just prior to kickoff for live updates and chat below.
Teams the last time I checked:
First Half: Well, the pregame chat was but chaff in the wind once Referee Chris Busby blew time and
Oranges:
Second Half:
Final score:
Nutta’s Man of the Match:
Nutta’s Muppet of the Match:
Closing thoughts:
Frankly, pre-tour, this was the game I wanted us to pinch. I thought we would likely lead the English only to lose at the death, to then have a good ‘recovery’ win over the Welsh and thus come north of the Wall (Hadrian’s) to get the tour back on-track with a gutsy scrap of a win over the gallant Scots. That would have made me smile back in September. But with wins over the English and the Welsh, expectations lifted to add the Hopetoun Cup to the poolroom mantle alongside the Cook Cup and Jimmy Bevan trophy, and then to shape up on the Irish for a tilt at the Grand Slam as did those legends of Aussie Rugby in 1984.
Now?
But to quote my old dad: “What’s done is done Boy and cannot be undone. All we can change now is what happens next.” And so it’s onto the Irish next week.
Let us know your thoughts below.
