The Flower of Scotland Lies Cold in Flanders Clay

Back in the days when the Edinbugh Evening News printed a “Saturday Pink” edition, it used to be said that there were two headlines on hand for whenever Scotland played England for the Calcutta Cup. Occasionally the sub-editors could scream “It’s Bannockburn!”; more often they were left to lament “It’s Flodden”. The latter, as always when the game is played at Twickenham, seems the more probable result tomorrow.

Still, talk of ancient battles is merely tabloid hyperbole. Other conflicts loom larger. Frank Keating had a characteristically lovely piece in the Guardian this week, recalling the terror of the First World War and the calamitous toll it took on rugby:

The war had left rugby with a grievous inventory. From these islands alone, 75 capped international players had been slain in the conflict – eight from Ireland, 11 from Wales, 26 from England and, almost unbelievably, 30 (two whole XVs) from Scotland. Of the 30 young men who played in the 1914 Calcutta Cup match at Inverleith, more than a third of them perished– six Scots and five Englishmen.