The Celtic Society’s event of the
year was held last Sunday as
the Scotland v Wales RBS Six
Nations match was contested
at a raucous Murrayfield.
Christened the ‘Ruck N Roll’ party, a select
group of fervent nationalists (the good
type) attended to cheer on their respective
countries of origin.
Tempers were briefly raised as a leek,
a symbol synonymous with the Welsh
people, was found butchered in a nearby
classroom, which the Welsh contingent
construed as an attack on their cultural
heritage. Fortunately the situation was
defused after the revelation that the offending
vegetable was in fact just left over
from a Chinese Food Society party from
the previous night. A cache of sheep’s
stomachs was subsequently released
intact.
While the party raged regardless, the
game itself was full of excitement and
controversy. After running face first into
the shoulder of Martin Williams, a man
whose nickname is ‘Nugget’, perhaps due
to being almost as hard as gold, Simon
Webster managed to render himself
comatose without using the standard
Scots method of deep-fried Mars bars and
whisky. This summed up how committed
both sides were in chasing victory in their
opening fixture despite finding themselves
in vastly different circumstances prior to
kick off.
After last year’s Grand Slam, the Welsh
were looking to show the mettle of their
championship credentials, a feat they
tackled with aplomb. Despite a valiant
late rally from the Scots, providing a
glimmer of hope for beleaguered coach
Frank Hadden and his players who came
into the tournament under the normal
burden of inflated national expectation,
the Welsh were always in control after
an eight-minute first half barrage where
they scored two tries. The Scots will have
to improve drastically if they are to gain
anything from next week’s trip to Paris in
order to revive their ever fading hopes of
tournament success.
Celtic Society Treasurer Ciaran Deeny
was pleased with how the event unfolded
as students both Welsh and Scottish, past
and present, nationalist and neutral enjoyed
the selection of drinks and nibbles
as well as the main event. Speaking
through an interpreter due to his indecipherable
Irish accent he said: “It was a
grand day. Things started off a bit hairy
but hey, who doesn’t like a bit of a scrap to
get the blood pumping?”.
Looking forward to the society’s
planned trip to Cardiff to watch the Wales
v Ireland Game on 21 March, he said: “Aye,
we’ll see how good these boys are when
they got Drico (Brian O’Driscoll) staring
them in the face. Man’s a legend, I tell ye”.
If anyone would like any more information
on this trip then please e-mail
d.mccauley@lse.ac.uk by the 1 March.
Judging by this shindig, its not to be
missed.
