Bill McLaren, the Hastings brothers, the inventors of sevens – Scotland has given rugby a lot and had some great days.
March 27, 1871
The world’s first international was played at Raeburn Place, Edinburgh in front of 4,000 spectators.
The match resulted from a challenge issued in the sporting weekly Bell’s Weekly on December 8, 1870, and signed by the captains of five Scottish clubs, inviting any team “selected from the whole of England” to a 20-a-side game to be played under the rugby rules. The game was played at the home ground of Edinburgh Academicals.
The English team wore all white with a red rose on their shirts and the Scots brown shirts with a thistle and white cricket flannels.
The team representing England was captained by Frederick Stokes of Blackheath, that representing Scotland was led by Francis Moncrieff; the umpires were Hely Hutchinson Almond, of Scotland, and A Ward from England.
The game, played over two halves of 50 minutes each, was won by Scotland, who scored a goal with a successful conversion kick after grounding the ball over the goal-line (permitting them to ‘try’ to kick a goal). Both sides achieved a further ‘try’ each, but failed to convert them to goals as the kicks were missed.
Angus Buchanan was the first man to score a try in international rugby. He powered over from a maul that was converted by William Cross. Buchanan later played cricket for Scotland. In 1877 Cross became Scotland’s second international rugby referee when he officiated an encounter between Scotland and England. This was his only international game as a referee, but he continued promoting Scottish rugby, becoming President of the Scottish Rugby Union for the 1882-83 season.
November 17, 1906
The 1906 Springboks were the first South African rugby team to tour the UK and they fashioned a great record of 26 wins, 2 defeats and a draw in 29 games. They outscored their opposition 595-85 and defeated Wales – the Triple Crown winners from the previous year, as well as the tamers of the famous 1905 All Blacks.
However South Africa came unstuck against Scotland. On a heavy field, Scotland scored two tries in the second half to complete an upset 6-0 victory in front of more than 30,000 fans at Hampden Park.
Ken MacLeod (who debuted for Scotland aged 17) and Alec Purves (whose brother William played for Scotland) scored the winning tries.
March 21, 1925
Scotland won their first Grand Slam when they defeated England 14-11 in front of 70,000 people in the first Test ever played at Murrayfield.
In an even match, both teams scored two tries each, the difference was a drop goal kicked by Herbert Waddell. Waddell was a fine player. During the 1924 Championship, Waddell scored a try in a humiliating win over Wales, and a pair of tries in a home victory over Ireland
Jimmy Nelson and Jonny Wallace (later President of the Barbarians and a Colonel in WWII) scored Scotland’s tries.
Scotland’s most accomplished player of the twenties was Ian Smith, who held the world record for most Test tries for over 60 years. In the 1925 Grand Slam he scored four tries each in the defeats of France and Wales.
March 21, 1964
The period after World War II was not a successful one for Scotland. In 1951, the touring Springboks massacred Scotland 44–0 scoring nine tries, a then-record defeat. Scotland suffered 17 successive defeats between February 1951 and February 1955, scored only 54 points in these 17 games: eleven tries, six conversions, and four penalties.
The teams from 1955–63 were an improvement, but there were no still wins over England until 1964. The Calcutta Cup was won 15–6, the first time since 1950, and the Five Nations title was shared with Wales.
Scotland produced a fiery forward effort with hooker Norman Bruce, flanker Ron Glasgow and Number 8 Jim Telfer scoring tries.
In 1962 Glasgow scored Scotland’s first try in Cardiff for 27 years as they stunned Wales 8-3. Telfer later coached the British Lions and was renowned for producing teams with accomplished forwards.
July 4, 1982
Scotland’s first away victory against any of the big three Southern Hemisphere sides occurred at Ballymore in Brisbane.
The tourists were not expected to provide much resistance, thrashed in the lead-up by Queensland. However Bob Dyer, coaching in his first Test, controversially dropped star first-five Paul McLean for Glen Ella. Ella had a shocker and Scotland’s forwards outplayed Australia to earn a 12-7 victory.
Keith Robertson scored Scotland’s only try. His son Mark later represented Scotland.
Captain and fullback Andy Irvine produced an assured performance. In 60 Tests Irvine scored 301 points, a record passed by Gavin Hastings and then Chris Patterson.
In the next Test McLean started and scored a then-record 21 points for Australia as the Wallabies won 33-9 in what proved to be McLean’s last Test.
November 12, 1983
Scotland has never beaten the All Blacks, but they achieved draws in 1964 (0-0) and 1983 (25-25).
The latter match played at Murrayfield was a classic tussle. The All Blacks led by a point at halftime and outscored Scotland three tries to one. Wing Bernie Fraser crossed twice and the late Jock Hobbs got on the score sheet as well.
However Scotland kept in touch via two drop-goals by John Rutherford (one of eight British Lions in the Scots line-up) and Peter Dods, who slotted five penalties.
With two minutes left and Scotland down by four points, Jim Pollock scored a dramatic try, running down a kick to tie the scores. Dods had a conversion attempt from out wide to push Scotland ahead. Dods recalled in The Scotsman in 2013:
“The kick was on the wrong side of the pitch for me being right-footed and hard up against the touchline but I felt good about it. It went higher than the posts and maybe if we’d had TMOs [television match officials] in those days we might have won.”
In the last play of the game Pollock late-charged Fraser, who retaliated by punching Pollock that reversed a penalty that would have given the All Blacks the chance to win the game.
In this Test Stu Wilson captained the All Blacks from the wing. He remains the only winger to captain the All Blacks in a Test match.
On Monday Dods returned to his job, cleaning toilets!
March 17, 1984
Scotland won their first Grand Slam since 1925 when they defeated France at Murrayfield; the French were also seeking the Grand Slam. Peter Dods was once again a key figure. He kicked five penalties and converted loose forward Jim Calder’s try from a stolen lineout.
In 23 Tests Dods scored 210 points, including 43 in a single match against Canada.
Jim Calder had a twin brother Finlay who played for Scotland and captained the 1989 British Lions tour to Australia. The brothers never played a Test together.
March 17, 1990
The first time that the Grand Slam and Triple Crown was at stake in the final match of the competition was on this day in 1990 when Scotland hosted England at Murrayfield.
Scotland won a colossal and emotional struggle by 13-7. Tony Stanger scored a famous chip-chase try down the right wing touchline while Craig Chalmers kicked three penalties for the hosts.
Stanger scored a record 24 tries in 51 Tests for Scotland. Chalmers’ sister Paula played international women’s rugby for Scotland.
April 19, 1999
Scotland competed in the Five Nations from the inaugural tournament in 1883, winning it 14 times outright – including the last ever Five Nations in 1999.
Scotland confirmed their championship credentials in 1999 when they walloped France by 36-22 in Paris. Flanker Martin Leslie and midfielder Alan Tait were the heroes, scoring two tries each.
Leslie played 37 Tests for Scotland. His brother John was captain of the 1999 side and his father Andy Leslie was an All Black captain from 1974-76.
Tait played league for Great Britain and scored 17 tries in 27 union Tests. Kenny Logan kicked four conversions and a penalty in Scotland’s biggest win over France since a 21-0 triumph in 1990. Scotland’s biggest win over France occurred in Paris in 1910.
April 2, 2000
Heading into the last match of the 2000 Six Nations Scotland was winless and last, while England was hunting a Grand Slam.
Scotland and especially Duncan Hodge, who kicked four penalties and converted his own try, produced an inspired performance to beat England for the first time since 1990, 19-13.
Lawrence Dallaglio scored the only try for England, who dominated possession in the last 20 minutes and forced Scotland to defend their line relentlessly. Scotland even lost second-five James McLaren (who grew up in Bathurst) to the sin bin.
McLaren is a dual code international and was the first player to be capped by Scotland in a rugby league international before representing in a rugby union international.
Hodge, who turned down the chance to play cricket for Scotland, later became Scotland’s kicking coach. His tally of points is a record for Scotland in internationals against England.
June 5, 2012
Scotland was terrible during the 2012 Six Nations, picking up the wooden spoon and falling to 12th in the IRB rankings, their lowest ever position.
Not many gave Scotland a chance of defeating the Wallabies in the first union international to be played in Newcastle. However on a cold and wet night, a passionate Scotland foiled an inept Wallabies outfit and scored a boil-over 9-6 victory.
This was Scotland’s first win in Australia since 1982 and the first time in 30 years that Scotland defeated Australia more than once in a row. Scotland recorded away wins over Fiji and Samoa on the same tour.
Prop Ryan Grant and hooker Ross Ford were immense, while Greig Laidlaw was a hero kicking three penalties, including the last-play winner.
In 2013 Laidlaw became Scotland’s 113th Test match captain, replacing the injured Kelly Brown for the Tests against South Africa and Italy. On three occasions during his career he has kicked a last-minute goal to win a Test for Scotland. He also achieved the feat against Samoa and Italy.
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