Scottish rugby fans asked for greatest Murrayfield moment

Days after Scotland recorded their biggest ever win at Murrayfield, rugby fans are being asked to vote for their favourite moment at the stadium.

While the thumping 85-0 win over the United States will live long in the history books, if not the memories, there have almost certainly been more momentous occasions.

Why now? Well, Scottish Rugby is celebrating 100 years of holding national games at the famous ground, so they've assembled a crack team of Scottish rugby icons to help whittle down the contenders.

Here is the final shortlist...

On 1 March 1975, Scotland edged out Wales 12-10 in a Five Nations thriller that has gone down in folklore for the sheer scale of the crowd.

More than 100,000 fans officially packed the terraces, although many believe the true number was closer to 130,000 – a figure that remains the stuff of legend.

Former Scotland player and head coach Sir Ian McGeechan is one of the panel and shared his memories of the day.

"In those days, you just turned up, bought your ticket, and walked in – no pre-booking," he said. "The SRU never accepted it was 130,000 – but it was.

"People were worried about the numbers – children being lifted down over the barriers to sit by the pitch. You couldn't imagine it now, but it was incredible to witness.

"I was playing that day and one of the most enduring memories was the schoolboys sitting along the touchline, all in their uniforms, as was the style.

"We stopped Wales winning the Grand Slam. You remember the way you felt, not just what happened. You see just how much something can have such an impact on you."

For every panellist, Scotland's 13–7 win over England in March 1990 stood as a defining Murrayfield moment.

The match, remembered for David Sole's famous slow walk on to the pitch, Tony Stanger's try and the rapturous final whistle, secured Scotland's third and most recent Grand Slam.

Two more recent players, Chris Paterson and Mike Blair, were far too young to be involved, but both have memories of the day itself.

"It has to be in," Paterson said. "That's the moment in my lifetime – the last time we won a Grand Slam.

"So many iconic memories – the walk-out, Tony Stanger's try, Scott Hastings' tackle on Rory Underwood – it was pure theatre and linked to arguably Scotland's greatest success."

Former scrum-half Blair admitted: "I must have watched that video a hundred times. Damian Cronin, the ginger hair running with the ball – that's a moment that stands out in my mind, but it's the final whistle that always gets me."

The moment captured at the top of this page. Having announced his motor neurone disease diagnosis earlier that year, Doddie Weir, the 'mad giraffe' as he was affectionately known, strode out like a colossus on to the Murrayfield turf before Scotland took on the All Blacks.

What followed was a pulsating 80 minutes in which Gregor Townsend's side ran the world number ones close, and almost snatched a victory at the death, but what is really remembered is what happened pre-match.

As Weir took to the pitch, flanked by his sons, a swell of emotion overcame the stadium. It was an outpouring of grief, strength and love, all mixed together in a giant cauldron of tears. There was not a dry eye in the house.

"I was assistant coach, standing on the pitch and helping to deliver water," Blair recalled.

"I was bawling my eyes out with tears. Everybody was. It's fair to say the emotion overwhelmed everyone and it probably took a lot of people's focus.

"You could feel the emotion ripple around the stadium. Everyone was thinking of Doddie, his family and their own loved ones. It was a strange start to a game but a truly special one."

There were other contenders, of course. The lone piper on the Murrayfield roof in 2006, Jim Calder's try in the 1984 Grand Slam, Finn Russell's 'pass of the century' against England in 2018.

However, it will be hard to look past that Doddie Weir moment for most. "It's funny that, in a rugby stadium, a sporting environment, a human emotion that sits foremost in most people's minds," Paterson said. "It's what the game stands for."

And what about our reporter Andy Burke, of the BBC Scotland Rugby Podcast? What was his pick?

"I've got loads of Murrayfield memories, but the one that stands out has to be... Oasis."