John Beattie says big bang theory proved to be too much for Ireland

Firework Phil, the marketing man at the SRU, will be happy. Just one note - we heard the fireworks, but we couldn't see them yesterday Phil. But, hey, the crowd will come back in November for the performance, and in the darker nights they'll see the big bangs.

Mind you, it was Scotland's big bangs that won this one, on the field, and more of that later. That was the hardest hitting defensive display I've ever seen from Scotland.

We might just be entering a new era in Scottish rugby with a group of similarly aged players who have a bit of grit about them, all of whom are athletic and mentally tough, and who look as though they can win.

You've got to count in there the likes of Jason White, James McLaren and Simon Taylor with the physical stuff, and the superb Chris Paterson anywhere, it would seem, in the back division. It is a huge challenge for Scottish rugby now as to what the men at the top do with Paterson because the link, in dense traffic, between quick- silver Bryan Redpath and Gregor Townsend is one that was more than fruitful.

Scott Murray, too, regained much of the ground he seemed to have lost on the Lions tour with a soaring performance in the lineouts and some big hits in the loose, and while Gordon Simpson is the kind of bloke who would seriously worry you if your daughter fancied him, he's got something special taking the ball into contact.

Murray's rise to height combined perfectly with Gordon Bulloch's throwing in, and that was probably Bulloch"s best game in a blue jersey, totally out playing Keith Wood, who looked to be part of a tired Irish pack.

I know that one of the charges you can level at journalists is that when we lose it's all doom and gloom and when we win it's elation, but this was a relaxed Scottish performance - they had thrown on all their subs by the end of the game for goodness sake - defeating an Irish side which seemed to be destined for greater things. It was truly superb, with only Gregor Town-send's kicking the sad note in a powerful orchestra. Townsend, to be fair, does so much else that's good that being relieved of goal-kicking duties released him for other aspects in his wide repertoire.

Scotland didn't need to win this game as much as Ireland, but maybe I've misunderstood the motives as the team's record before this, barring matches against minor countries and Italy, had been pretty miserable for two years.

Maybe this was a key game for Scotland all along, maybe they were under internal pressure to perform and impress the country. Maybe Ireland believed their own publicity too much.

For whatever reason, Scotland were far better in the rucks, much better in the backs and truly blasted Ireland.

But let's talk about the hits. I watched one on Brian O'Driscoll. James McLaren had scragged him, and O'Driscoll turned round to see who, or perhaps what, had done the damage while McLaren was just too busy off running into someone else.

It kind of summed up the game for me, but then I like these little bits of collision and I truly can't overstate how important the sheer menace of McLaren was to Scotland's cause.

My task was to watch Simon Taylor for the game, a man delightfully back to full running power after all that time out with a knee injury and a sad Lions tour.

The first incident was when he was penalised for diving in, but, as the game wore on, he found his progress was in supportingother players on the drive, and in one particularly spectacular session.

Taylor, yesterday, became part of the immovable home defence and, in an unglamorous way, proved immense for Scotland's cause with one crunching tackle on Simon Maggs forming a lasting impression But what do we make of this? Was it really a game that mattered little, other than for practise for the rest of the season and a chance to save face? Have world events, and a delayed end to the Six Nations, made sport less important, or, more especially, this sport less important?

The reality, of course, is that every game matters, jobs are on the line every time these blokes step on and off the pitch, so it was business as usual.

For the blokes at the metaphorical helm of Scottish rugby, Tom Smith, James McLaren, Gordon Bulloch and all, their jobs are more than safe at the moment, and for one tantalising period in Scottish rugby, the forward vision seems tinged with optimism and visible fireworks.

Copyright 2001
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.