checked out from 108 then 180 in an explosive display against

Its a funny thing, historical memory. The match between Scotland and South Africa which took place 110 years ago this week, on 17 November 1906, should have an honoured place alongside Wales defeat of the All Blacks a year earlier and Englands triumph in Obolenskys match nearly three decades later.It was historic, whatever the outcome had been, as the first international played by the Springboks on British soil. That it was against Scotland -- beginning a sequence during the inaugural Boks tour in which all four home nations were played on consecutive weekends -- was no fluke since the invitation to visit had followed the Lions tour, led by the great Scottish forward Mark Morrison, to South Africa three years earlier.Maybe it is something to do with the comparatively limited literature on the Scottish game -- it merits only a couple of lines in RJ Phillipss 1925 history, paling rather into insignificance alongside the epic chapter which Welsh writers Dai Smith and Gareth Williams devote to the 1905 match in their Fields of Praise. And for some reason the Boks have never weighed quite as heavy as the All Blacks in the collective memory of the British game.But by the time they pitched up at Hampden Park -- a venue permitting a Scottish record attendance of 32,500 -- in mid-November, the Boks were looking every bit as formidable as the All Blacks had done a year earlier. They had carved through a succession of English opponents and only been checked to any extent when they entered Wales and were flummoxed by the local methods -- under the then rules of the scrum -- for securing both loose head and put-in.Even then it did not take them long to grasp what was happening -- and to respond in kind. Both Glamorgan and Newport gave the tourists tough games and held them to single figures, a distinction shared with only Middlesex among their first 15 opponents. But they could not beat the Boks, who retained a 100 per cent record from those 15 matches, with a points difference of 354 against 21 and only three tries conceded, when they arrived at Hampden.They had the mutual understanding built up by touring teams -- and it doubtless did no harm that their centres, Japie Krige and Boy de Villiers were also cousins. But they were inevitably lacking in international experience, since it was South Africas first Test since the Lions had departed three years earlier, and fielded 10 debutants. Tour captain Paul Roos, a formidable figure on and off the field, was out with a knee injury, so they were led by his deputy Paddy Carolin.The Scots, recuperating from a disappointing 1906 championship campaign during which they beat only Ireland, contented themselves with four newcomers, all in a pack which also included three medical men. Their threequarter line included two 18-year-olds, the wing Lewis MacLeod and Yokohama-born centre Maurice Walter, who a year earlier had turned down selection for England to opt for the Scots.But their real weapon was the weather. It had rained for two days before the match. The ground was in a terrible condition, Carolin was to recall. And we scarcely enjoyed our first experience of trying to play football in mud up to our ankles with a ball as heavy as lead and as slippery as an eel.Scotland, by contrast, enjoyed themselves hugely in conditions perfect for the rampaging feet, Scotland, feet style of forward play. As Carolin admitted, We were beaten to a frazzle by a wonderful set of forwards. Driven on by David Bedell-Sivright, arguably the hardest of Scotlands many notable hard men, they took no prisoners -- three Boks spent time off the field injured. Forward Dietlof Mare, later the author of the first rugby book in Afrikaans, ended his only international match with two broken fingers.Yet there was no score in the first half, and it took a moment of opportunistic brilliance to break the deadlock soon after the restart. Half-back Pat Munro kicked across the field to the right wing where the prodigious MacLeod took a superb catch and strode past a series of tacklers to the line. Centre Tennant Sloan was to say many years later that, I saw it all right, and ran for it, but couldnt get near it. It was only MacLeods tremendous pace that allowed him to get under the ball and he caught it safely at full pace.Even then the outcome remained in doubt until wing Alexander Purves, one of three London Scottish players in the line-up, touched down after a foot rush by the Scottish pack, although Krige claimed ever after to have got there first.For the Scots, the 6-0 victory was the prelude to one of their best ever seasons, with 1907 delivering a Triple Crown and championship. Purves followed his try against the Boks with another in each of the championship matches, part of a run of six consecutive scoring appearances.Yet neither of their teenage prodigies enjoyed the long international careers that had seemed in store for them. Walter died of meningitis at 22. MacLeod, a truly extraordinary all-round ballplayer who might have played for Scotland at 15 if his head teacher at Fettes had allowed it and also played cricket for Lancashire and football for Manchester City, quit at 20 following the death of his elder brother George, a team-mate on his debut against the All Blacks a year earlier.But at least three of the other backs were to attain off-field distinction. Munro joined the Sudan Civil Service, returned after a distinguished career to become a Conservative MP and died on a Home Guard exercise in 1942. Sloan too joined the imperial civil service and was knighted for his achievements in India.None, though, managed anything as colourful as their captain Louis Greig, a naval doctor who earned the undying regard of the royal family by diagnosing and treating the duodenal ulcer afflicting Prince Albert. That regard transmuted into a lifetime as father-figure, adviser and confidant to the prince, destined to become George VI. When Greig died in 1953, the range and influence of his acquaintances was reflected at a funeral which his grandson and biographer Geordie -- editor of the Mail on Sunday -- has recorded was attended by the five senior members of the royal family, Winston Churchill, J Arthur Rank, representatives of Catford dog track, the All-England tennis club and the Scotland rugby team, along with six waiters from the Dorchester Hotel who took the morning off to be there.The Boks rebounded from their initial set-back, seeing off Ireland 15-12 in a seesawing struggle in Belfast highlighted by a superb long-range try by mercurial Irish centre Basil MacLear, Wales -- who would go down to the Boks again in 1912, but not lose at home to any other opponent between 1899 and 1913 -- 11-0 at Swansea and drawing 3-3 with England at Crystal Palace.The Welsh writer WJ Townsend Collins, comparing the two great pioneering touring teams, would conclude that: The All Blacks were professors convinced of the correctness of their theories, satisfied with themselves, confident of their mission and their ability to teach. The Springboks were students anxious to learn, and at the end they were a very great team. The Springboks conception of combination was better than the All Blacks, their passing was better.And their successors remembered those lessons. The next four Springbok teams -- in 1912, 1931, 1951 and 1960 -- recorded clean sweeps of the home nations. It was not until 1965, on a short tour of Ireland and Scotland riven by the politics endemic to the South African game under apartheid, that they lost again to any of the home nations, going down first 9-6 to a late penalty by Irish full-back Tom Kiernan and then, a week later, 8-5 to an even later drop-goal by Scotlands outside-half Davie Chisholm.Here perhaps is the real clue to the way the 1906 match has faded from history. It was the falsest of false dawns, a defeat on their first outing that was not to be repeated for 59 years and 19 matches (22 if you add in the defeats handed to Scotland, Ireland and Wales when single-country tours of South Africa began in the 1960s). Nor were the Lions to win a series in South Africa until 1974, with six teams between 1910 and 1969 achieving only four victories in 22 tests. The nilling inflicted on the Boks in their first Test on British and Irish soil has yet to be repeated in 83 matches (including 12 World Cup ties) spread over 110 years since.It is time, perhaps, that the memory should be revived. The victory in 1906 deserves to be remembered as one of the great days in Scottish rugby history and the achievements of that seasons team to rank alongside those of 1925, 1933, 1938, 1984, 1990 and 1999. Greater, perhaps, given that none of those teams also managed to beat a major touring team (although the 1984 team came desperately close, drawing 25-25 with the All Blacks), never mind one that would then go unscathed for another 59 years. Vapormax Plus Pánská . The lawyers filed a 33-page amended complaint Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan, expanding on the suit originally filed Oct. 3 in New York Supreme Court. Arbitrator Fredric Horowitz last week refused to compel Selig to testify in the grievance, and Rodriguez then walked out of the hearing without testifying. Vapormax Flyknit Levně . While hell be dialed in to that tournament on a course he loves, you can forgive him if his eyes glance down the calendar just a bit, towards April. http://www.vapormaxlevne.cz/vapormax-off-white-sleva.html . -- Jakob Silfverberg is making himself right at home with the Anaheim Ducks, scoring four goals in his first four games. Vapormax Plus Cz . The showiest items on Calgarys lot were forwards Mike Cammalleri and Lee Stempniak. Both will be unrestricted free agents this summer. Vapormax Off White Cena . -- Ty Montgomery had 290 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns, and fifth-ranked Stanford held on to beat No.Raymond van Barneveld is on the verge of the knock-out stages at the Grand Slam of Darts, after beating Danny Noppert on Sunday afternoon. The Dutch legend produced a second successive victory in Wolverhampton, disposing of his young compatriot 5-2 to take full control of Group F. Van Barneveld told Sky Sports he is happy with his form 2012 Grand Slam champion Van Barneveld checked out from 108 then 180 in an explosive display against Noppert, the BDOs No 3, to top the group with four points. Noppert sits second, with two points, alongside Mensur Suljovic who beat the win-less Nathan Aspinall 5-3. Highlights of Suljovic v Aspinall James Wade also looks certain to cruise into the next round after beating James Wilson 5-3, breaking crucially to win a fourth leg before his experience saw him over the line for a second win of the weekend.In thee same group, Dave Chisnall is yet to get off the mark after a surprise 5-1 reverse against the BDOs Jamie Hughes.dddddddddddd Highlights of Chisnall v Hughes Peter Snakebite Wright thrashed Simon Whitlock 5-0 in a contest between the top two players in their group - elsewhere, Jeff Smith beat Ted Evetts 5-4.Scott Waites, the only BDO player to ever win this tournament, lost his second game after Gerwyn Price ran out a 5-2 winner. Robert Thornton tops their group so far, after recovering from a three-leg deficit to beat Dmitiri van den Bergh 5-4. Robert Thornton comes from behind to defeat Dmitri van den Bergh Also See: Sky Bets darts odds On Sky TV Schedule/Results Features Get Sky Sports ' ' '