Jim Telfer accused EJ in the Telegraph 30th January as being disrespectful and compared him to Donald Trump. He also claimed the home crowd at Twickenham, whilst different to the French who boo the opposition, is wholly “disdainful”.

In all my past experiences at Twickenham I never once heard or indeed saw any disdainful behaviour. Perhaps as a dour socialist Scot (Tories don’t exist north of the border and you can take that from a Sassenach – a part Scot who lives south of the border with some knowledge of the situation north of Hadrian’s Wall), Telfer was reading too much into the class system that is roundly and colourfully represented for all to see throughout the Twickenham stands on matchday (particularly the pink-trousered variety that picnics in the car park next to The Stoop).

Telfer’s comments remind me somewhat of the oft repeated and to my mind largely unsubstantiated and fabricated cries of an “arrogant” English rugby squad. The evidence I would argue has been consistently the opposite. Lancaster had England’s rugby PR machine in a state of permanent hiatus to mollify and pacify; so fearful was he to dispel the cries of dwarf tossing and cross-harbour swimming activities prevalent at the time of the World Cup in New Zealand. Lancaster succeeded and turned the team into a directionless and appeasement-orientated squad.

Telfer needs reminding that you make no friends through the meek mollification of others (Chamberlain’s signing of the Munich agreement was a case in point). A great leader has to not only lead but sometimes have the confidence and self-belief to plough on regardless whilst ignoring the noise all around him. Only then, said Rudyard Kipling, could you be a man and in Eddie Jones’ case a great leader of men.

Yes EJ likes the limelight but so what! A lot of us out there do! Some do it for a living nowadays on Twitter or Youtube or any other social networking platform they can get their hands on.

Lest Telfer has forgotten, EJ has a job to do and he seems to be doing it extremely well. Results to date: 12 wins out of 12 under his stewardship.

Bleating about how he did it after the event always sounds petty, small-minded and at the best of times bitter. Perhaps Telfer has his own agenda: to ramp up the Scottish team psyche prior to 2017’s Six Nations with many harbouring the highest expectations of a Scottish team since the 1990s. There is even a TRB post on ‘Scotland’s chances of winning it’ and why not?

No Englishman would dare to accuse TRB of being delusional (ref “Scotland winning it”); that would be nationalistic, arrogant and even racist! Anyone who said THAT might even be struck off!

Telfer’s criticisms could be compared to and put on a par with Trump’s alternative facts. Careful Mr Telfer…my 25% part-Scottish head and heart are thinking that you’re increasingly sounding like a “whingeing Scot!”

By Alex Dewar

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