SCOTLAND shrugged off the cash hungry ethos of the new professional game to play an honourable part in a 15 try feast of interactive rugby staged to commemorate the victims of the Dunblane massacre, on Saturday.

More than 100 members of Dunblane families came to Murrayfield at the invitation of the Scottish Rugby Union, which will donate gate revenue from the 32,000 attendance to Dunblane community projects.

The presence of an unusually large number of boys and girls contributed to the poignant atmosphere, but this pre-season international was not as sombre as might have been expected given the brilliant sunshine and similarly brilliant football.

It would be naive to suggest the result did not matter indeed there was a brief punch up among the forwards near the end but the occasion bore only a passing resemblance to a genuine Test.

Rugby politics threatens to dominate the new season once more, yet the Barbarians side, drawn as it was from eight countries, offered a timely reminder that players, not committee men, are the vital life force of the game.

Led by the former Scottish skipper Gavin Hastings, who scored a couple of tries, the Barbarians showed the same attractive blend of flair and aggression that a lively troupe of Zulu warrior dancers demonstrated before the kick off.

"Our team did not have a game plan," Hastings admitted. "We just wanted to uphold the traditions of the Barbarians, and it's nice to have won as a bonus. I had to go off near the end with a leg injury, and I would like to congratulate our number eight, Arran Pene, who took over as captain for his decision to run the penalty which resulted in a try by Paddy Johns that won us the match. Arran was one of many talented players out there."

Scotland, who returned from a tour of New Zealand two months ago, still seem to find it difficult to switch from southern hemisphere style rucking to the mode permitted by the Irish referee Gordon Black, hence the stream of penalties they conceded.

Throughout the afternoon Scotland counter attacked in style winger Derek Stark also plundered two fine tries and in Gregor Townsend and Gary Armstrong they had a pair of halfbacks ideally suited to the relentless running game demanded.

Townsend admitted, though, that "we didn't win enough ball to shut the game down when we had the lead. We took a lot of our scoring chances, but overall we didn't create enough of them. I'm disappointed with the result on my first outing as captain, but at least the crowd applauded us and I think they got their money's worth for a very good cause."