Six Nations rugby...

[max_tranmere]

Always a highlight of my year, and am always a bit sad when it ends. This tournament was very enjoyable, and we (England) came within 6 points of winning the title. Did other people enjoy this year's Six Nations? We don't have that long to wait until the next round of exciting rugby though, as we are hosting the World Cup here later this year. I'm looking forward to that.

[Arginald Valleywater]

Enjoyed yes but slightly saddened as to how utterly crap Scotland have become.

[max_tranmere]

Scotland are usually one of the poorer teams, but I don't think it's as popular there as it is in the other principalities/countries of the six who compete. I heard that as recently as 10 or 15 years ago Murrayfield often didn't even sell-out on match days.

[Arginald Valleywater]

Something went drastically wrong when the Scottish teams went Pro. The Borders, which were the production line of players seem to dry up and the likes of Hawick saw a lot of younger men leave as the knitwear industry got hammered. My colleague is from Hawick and won't be drawn on the subject of Rugby as it is painful to recall some of the world class players she went to school with and the rubbish that nows plays for Scotland. I used to have a token ?1 bet on every England Scotland match with my mother but no longer do as the result is never in doubt.

[max_tranmere]

I wasn't aware of any of that. Surely though even if a lot of the talent from the Border area left because local industry collapsed they would still be eligible to play for the team - even if they were now living in England or wherever. Unless they mostly moved thousands of miles away, then obviously wouldn't be able to pop back for games.

Can you explain a bit more about what "went drastically wrong when the Scottish teams went Pro". I would have thought the fact the players were now waged, rather than not, would have helped - they could now commit to playing and training 24/7 rather than having to do day jobs at the same time.