Commonwealth Games 2014: Tough get going as New Zealand narrowly beat ...

At this point, the 32-year-old IT specialist James Collette of London and his

27-year-old girlfriend Lucy Sargison, an army captain from Bath, were

brought on to the pitch for what was meant to be a rugby knowledge quiz.

James, though, had other ideas. With a better sense of timing than many of the

minor teams had displayed, he seized the microphone, dropped to one knee and

asked Lucy to marry him.

When she accepted, the 45,000 crowd roared their approval. Or maybe it was

just relief that they had finally witnessed an encounter that was not a

hopeless mismatch.

Either way, the impromptu engagement added to the party atmosphere at an

occasion that certainly needed something beyond what was happening on the

field to keep spirits high.

Asking spectators to get all happy-clappy and take part in singalongs can be a

toe-curlingly naff ruse, but it somehow seemed to work at Ibrox. You rather

suspect that things will be a little more subdued when Rangers entertain

Dumbarton, Queen of the South and Alloa Athletic there over the season

ahead.

England drew some pantomime booing when they came out for their first match,

but it was entirely without menace. As, indeed, were Sri Lanka, their

opponents, who failed to score a single point while shipping 59.

In the course of two ties, the Sri Lankans had thereby managed to concede 117

points. It is fair to say that their prospect of getting among the medals

were not exactly high after that.

Nor, in truth, were Scotland’s. The Scots have hardly set any heather alight

on the world sevens circuit, and even the addition of a few full Test

players seemed unlikely to change that pattern when they went up against New

Zealand, a side that has never lost a single match in the course of winning

the past four Commonwealth titles.

So when the All Blacks built up a 17-0 interval lead with two tries by Sherwin

Stowers and one from Ben Lam, the only question was how big their winning

margin would be.

Staggeringly, the answer was three, as the Scots fought back brilliantly after

the break and created two tries, both converted, for winger Lee Jones.

Desperate to retain their unbeaten record, the New Zealanders lost Gillies

Kaka to the sin bin for ball killing, and he was followed soon afterwards by

Tim Mikkelson, who got his yellow card for a deliberate knock-on. As that

happened with 1min 50sec left on the clock, Mikkelson’s two-minute

punishment should have ended his involvement in the tie.

Controversially, Mikkelson was back on the pitch a few seconds before the end.

In fairness, New Zealand had control of the ball at that stage and were

simply winding the clock down, but the Scots were still within on score of a

win and deserved to have their man advantage. However, they decided to take

it on the chin and chose not to submit a formal challenge.

“An error was made that had no direct impact on the outcome of the game,” said

Scotland coach Stevie Gemmell. “Just as we look at our errors, all referees

analyse their performances and we hope this decision will be taken on

board.”

Jones suggested that the result would give Scotland confidence. That remained

to be seen, but it would certainly offer a boost to any side that might meet

the All Blacks in the knockout stages. They might have pulled through

against Scotland, but their aura of invincibility did not survive the

contest.

That was as the serious end of the contest, though. Seriousness was rarely the

tone of the tournament as a whole. The All Blacks can be unattractively

earnest about their sevens activities, but nobody would ever accuse

Bayne-Charles – Billy Ocean was born Leslie Charles – of that failing.

His participation had come about by a bizarre route, as he was initially

invited to play in a Dutch tournament for London Nigerians. When his

eligibility came to light, the Barbados authorities were alerted and he came

on board.

“Rugby is my passion,” he said with a smile. “I have been playing since I was

seven. I am as musical as my dad and when I return I might do more of it,

but I am playing rugby at the moment and loving it.”

And as heavy as Barbados’s defeat was, at least they salvaged some pride with

their five points, which is more than a number of sides managed. It is tough

coming off a pitch with a blank scoreline. For as Billy would put it, love

really hurts.

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Commonwealth Games 2014: Tough get going as New Zealand narrowly beat ...