Edinburgh - While it is generally accepted that golf originated in Scotland through shepherds larking around, few people know that we can equally thank the Scots for having invented the game of rugby, or a semblance thereof, with “Kirkwall Ba”, when a sheep’s bladder was tossed between the upper gates of a village, in a scrummaging match for possession of the “ball”, that could continue for weeks.
Before the 2003 Rugby World Cup, I sat halfway up a Perthshire glen, watching a falcon swoop from the clouds to rest on the arm of its master, ex-Scottish captain and Lions flanker Rob Wainwright.
He spoke about the significance of the Flower of Scotland anthem:
Oh Flower of Scotland, when will we see your like again, that fought and died, for this wee bit o hill and glen… stood before proud Edward’s army and sent him home to think again.
This is a reference to English king Edward II being defeated by Robert the Bruce’s outnumbered Scots army at the Battle of Bannockburn… and the English are still considered arch-rivals. Every game of rugby involving them is tantamount to war, be it played out at Murrayfield, Twickenham or at the Hawick Rugby Club in the south Borders.
The Borders remains the only part of Scotland, outside of the predominantly middle-class Edinburgh elite, where rugby took root, usurping football, becoming the sporting focus of hardy farming communities: Hawick, Kelso and Selkirk are a network of mill towns nestling in rolling hills and valleys criss-crossed by rivers, which were inextricably linked to the wool industry and just happened to have produced the majority of Scotland’s great rugby players and ambassadors.
My favourite destination in this area has become The Roxburghe Golf and Country House, which is part of the Duke of Roxburghe’s vast estate adjacent to the River Teviot, where I have been privileged to rendezvous with the cream of Scottish rugby in the build up to previous World Cups.
One such was Bill McLaren, now deceased, who was dubbed “The Great Voice of Rugby”, on account of his extraordinary commentating skills and marvellous analogies for touring international teams, not least of all the Springboks – “The Great migration of green jerseys… he’s hoofed that through, stronger than a buffalo – and he looks like a galloping giraffe…”
Bill hailed from nearby Hawick and we sat having high tea on the hallowed lawns of this beautiful Victorian manor, surrounded by herbaceous borders and gigantic tree specimens, while McLaren produced a pack of cards, flipped them over and taught me his trick for remembering names by numbers on the back of jerseys.
Scottish lock Doddie Weir also arrived to show off his clay pigeon shooting skills on a property where the Duke has ensured quintessential Scottish leisure pursuits – fly fishing, whisky drinking and golf – are mandatory.
On this visit, I reconnected with Scott Hastings, brother of Gavin (both of whom are Scottish rugby legends). Since retiring from rugby, the brothers have morphed into semi-professional golfers (and commentators).
Scott (and golfer Sam Torrance) reckons this historic links course boasts the best 19th hole in the Borders: not the elevated bar in the clubhouse which also affords glorious views over the undulating 18th stretching as far as Kelso, but the Library Bar in the hotel.
You sit on leather chairs under high ceilings in front of a roaring log fire looking at original first edition books – probably worth more than the whole hotel – sipping a dram or two, while the tempting aromas of Michel Roux’s gastronomic delights – pheasant, lamb and anything else organically grown and fattened up on the Duke’s estate – wafts through from the restaurant.
The gigantic prize salmon mounted at the top of the first-floor landing are the result of annual fishing competitions in the Teviot and are an oversized indication of what you might discover, creatively presented, on your dinner plate.
Retiring to my enormous four-poster suite later, with another authentic fire crackling and contemplating the painstaking “sporting” detail the Duchess of Roxburghe has personally instilled into the traditional tartans and elaborate decor, it is hard to imagine why the Roxburghes prefer living in a wing of nearby Floors Castle, Scotland’s largest inhabited castle, instead of this utterly private and infinitely more charming country home.
One of the most picturesque pastoral scenes in the whole country comes as you cross the bridge into Kelso and past the ultimate example of Romanesque architecture, the Kelso Abbey (built by monks in the 12th century), before winding up the hill to the magnificent verdant grounds of the castle.
Talking rugby, Scott Hastings has a warning for the Boks: don’t underestimate Scotland. They have transformed under the guidance of New Zealand coach Vern Cotter. “They will present a challenge for South Africa.”
But little nations, especially the “Kilted Kiwis” – the colloquial name for the Scots in the Hastings and Wainright era – thrive with their backs against the wall, as Will Carling’s English team discovered in 1999.
“Yes, in Braveheart style we can make the quarters…”
Braveheart William Wallace hailed from Stirling, another pretty south border town with a castle, where his ramshackle army of farmers defeated the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297 and earned him the title the Guardian of Scotland.
Hastings is well aware that Scotland did not make it into the last eight the last time around in 2011 (having played in every tournament since the inaugural one in 1987). He thinks captain and scrumhalf Greg Laidlaw is going to have to dig deep into Scots history for inspiration from those heroic battles.
Hastings’s passion is palpable, not only for his national team, but for this haunting landscape of woodlands and parklands, dotted with church steeples and Roman bridges, that has withstood English invasion for centuries and like her clear rivers churning out salmon has spawned so many warrior rugby players.
l Deborah Curtis-Setchell was sponsored by Virgin Atlantic Airline’s Little Red service which operates daily between London, Edinburgh and Aberdeen – a very popular service with golfing tourists because golf bags travel free.
Deborah Curtis-Setchell, Saturday Star