When the pre Olympics sequence in the film Chariots of Fire was filmed on St Andrews beach the producer could have little imagined that a sequence depicting 1924 could be played out again yesterday nearly ninety years on---just recast Eric Liddell as Euan Murray
The Chariot and Scottish Cap changed from 100m to 400m to avoid competing on Sunday and still struck Gold and set a World record-- hopefully some inspiration here


The Herald reports

Can Robinson afford to take Murray to New Zealand? interview
Published on 18 Aug 2011

alasdair reid

IT was just after two o’clock, and Euan Murray had come among us to talk of the unfathomable mysteries of human existence.

Trouble was, we didn’t want to hear about front-row techniques yesterday. We’d rather he talked about God.

Or, to be more specific, about whether he thinks his refusal to play on Sundays might count against him when Andy Robinson finalises his 30-man World Cup squad this weekend.

Scotland’s potentially critical group match against Argentina takes place on the Sabbath, as does the quarter-final they look most likely to be involved in. For what it’s worth – and I’ll grant that might not be much – the final takes place on a Sunday, as well.

But Murray didn’t want to talk about such things. By all accounts, his faith is at the evangelical end of the spectrum, but you’d think he had thrown in his lot with the Trappists from the way he reacted to questions that touched upon matters religious.

Did he think, someone asked tentatively, that his circumstances might put him under more pressure to justify his place on the plane to New Zealand? “Eh, um,” he mused. “It would be good if we just stick to this weekend’s game,” he said.

In truth, he had a point. Murray has generally had an easy time of it with the media since he declared a renewed commitment to God a few years ago, but lobbing a metaphysical concept at a sportswriter is a bit like asking a jellyfish to give Sudoku a go. The enthusiasm might be there, but a deeper level of understanding can be devilishly hard to find.

Yet, there is a simple, straightforward and perfectly valid line of inquiry to be pursued here. If Murray goes to New Zealand, he will travel in the company of 29 other players who are fit, firing and desperate to play.

One by one, they have filed into the press room at the Old Course hotel in St Andrews this week, unwaveringly on-message with the line that it is not just making the trip, but getting on the pitch that drives them on. Murray, uniquely, can’t say the same of every game.

Somebody pressed that point. It would be a kindness to say that Murray responded with a meaningful silence, but the truth of the matter was that there didn’t seem to be a lot of meaning in there. It was a pause of Pinteresque proportions.

Behind him, on the Old Course’s 17th fairway, we watched a golfer play his approach to the green and march off into the distance. For all we knew, the fellow had probably putted out, birdied the 18th and downed a swift half in the Jigger Inn by the time Murray uttered a word. “I don’t really know what to say,” he offered.

Can Robinson afford to take Murray? Can he afford to leave him behind? It is a pivotal conundrum in the squad selection process. The current assumption that Robinson will take five props – Murray, Moray Low, Geoff Cross, Allan Jacobsen and Alasdair Dickinson – is based partly on the logistical problems of getting another player to New Zealand if one is injured. However, in 2003, Robinson took just four, a tactic allowed by Jason Leonard’s ability to cover both loose and tighthead.

Rumours suggest that Cross, until now an out-and-out tighthead, has been training hard on the loosehead side, as well.

What Murray was prepared to tell us was that things have been getting lively in the build-up. Robinson has had to curb his props’ enthusiasms at times, while scrum coach Massimo Cuttitta has been hard at work reshaping a set-piece that creaked alarmingly earlier this year.

“We have changed things in our set up to the scrum which is very important, he said. “To get it right it is all about building pressure, the way we are approaching the hit. I don’t know if anyone in the world knows everything about scrummaging.”

Maybe not. Enlightenment never comes easily.

This article was originally posted on 18-Aug-2011, 07:17 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 18-Aug-2011, 07:49.