It was a real privilege to be at Twickenham to see Scotland beat England last Saturday.
It was one of those ‘I was there’ occasions.
I’ve definitely been spoiled in the last few months having watched St Johnstone beat Rangers as well.
The atmosphere last Saturday wasn’t as good as Murrayfield and the less said about the cost of a drink, the better!
But there was no mistaking that this was as complete a Scotland team performance in the Six Nations as there’s been in a long time.
Planning, character and skill levels were all top notch.
I’d heard that the pre-tournament camp in Spain went very well and that will have been about the psychology of the different scenarios that could play out as much as the tactical and technical stuff.
No doubt, one of those scenarios will have been ‘how do we refocus if we win?’
The phrase that keeps getting talked about is ‘backing the win up’.
And that’s because it is what the Scotland rugby team have failed to do so often.
Warren Gatland likes his mind games so I’m sure he’ll be picking up on that theme over the next couple of days!
I was never in a position where I had to wait a week to back up a big win. It could be the same day, the next day or at worst, the one after that.
A gap of a week probably doesn’t help.
But Scotland shouldn’t be looking at this game as an extension of the last one.
Focus on what you’ve been doing so well, focus on the opponent and after what we saw at Twickenham, ‘backing up the win’ will be the natural consequence.
Amy Williams and Lizzy Yarnold have raised the profile of sliding sports with their Olympic medals.
But even though we got an upgraded Bobsleigh bronze in Sochi, it’s always felt like a mountain yet to be conquered.
Brad Hall and his team haven’t reached the top yet but ending an 84-year wait for a four-man world championship medal is the equivalent of climbing a long way up it.
It’s really exciting for GB sport in general, and particularly those of us who love our winter sports.
IT'S SILVER!!!!
Britain's first World Championship medal since 1939 🙌
BRAD HALL, TAYLOR LAWRENCE, GREG CACKETT AND ARRAN GULLIVER 🥈🥈🥈🥈 pic.twitter.com/kYpampNXYS
— Team GB (@TeamGB) February 5, 2023
The first time I watched the bobsleigh was at our holding camp for the Vancouver Games.
It was incredible to get a close-up view.
A split second and they’re past you.
As much as you need to be physically fit – and explosive power means you see track sprinters make the switch of sports quite often – there’s a lot more to it technically than people think.
And it’s certainly not something I’ll ever be brave enough to give a try!
I’ll be watching as much of the Canadian national championships as I can when they start in a week.
It will be fascinating to see if some of the new teams can gel quickly – and it will always stick in my mind that we had our own golden run in 2021/22 when we were in the ‘honeymoon’ period as a new group.
But in the first year of a new Olympic cycle, if I had to pick a favourite it would be the reigning champions, Team Einarson.
There’s less uncertainty about them than the other top teams.
It makes them the team to beat this time around.
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