"He told me, "I love you, all the best, but don't cuddle me": Secret to Scotland's success? No hugs from Menzies to Anderson allowed

Scotland face England tonight after they downed Republic of Ireland to reach the final session of the World Cup of Darts in Frankfurt. But when it came down to it, Menzies and Anderson again were perhaps the most impressive team again.

Their cohesion in taking down the Republic of Ireland was a great sight. While Anderson joked about them being polar opposites, this element very much works for Scotland as Anderson plays the peacemaker or the grumpy one, as he called it. While on his World Cup debut, Menzies, as a result, calms down his usual frenetic approach to suit Anderson and it has worked great.

"You couldn't have got two opposites, could you? Listen, I know what Cammy's like. Cammy's 100 miles an hour. I'm the moaning-faced old bugger that just dots about," said Anderson to Viaplay.

"To keep Cammy going, I mean, cracking little player. For the first time having that shirt on, he's going bloody well. He's doing brilliant."

For Menzies, he said that while they aren't prototypical people who would get on the fact that what you see is what you get and they don't just talk about darts means they get on swimmingly.

"No, no, the thing is, bang on, Gary's Gary. Gary wins and loses and he doesn't really change much. But we sit with Gary and we get on. I know Gary very well."

"We don't even talk about darts. We talk about everything else except darts. We talk fishing," added Anderson.

But for Menzies, he said it works as they are very much the complete polar opposites of each other, and given his experience, it makes it easier for him, knowing that he has him on his side, to make the decisions easier. "Gary knows me, and he knows I'm the opposite of him. He knows how to be on my side and it's worked. I didn't know if I was going to clap hands or fist bump or whatever. He made that decision, and little things like that mean much to me. When you have a bad score, which happens—"

"We've got another seven legs in front of us," chimed in Anderson jokingly.

Menzies continued that the encouragement and Anderson's leadership have made his nerves go from being ultra heightened, as is often the case with Menzies, to being less so. "Head up, buddy, head up." I want to do the best I can, not because I'm playing myself, I'm playing with Gary," continued Menzies.

He's been great with me and it's made it a lot easier than I thought. I thought I'd be really nervous, which I am within reason, but it's made it a lot easier because Gary's been... He's taken the bull by the horns.

Anderson also showered praise on Menzies and said that what you see is what you get. "He's a good lad. Cammy was exactly the same when he was 14 years old because I can remember meeting Cammy when he was 14 and he's never changed. He's just got a bit older. But he just plays the game with his heart on his sleeve. It's good."

But while Menzies is a big hugger, it won't be something he engages with as he said that realistically he only doesn't hug two people and Anderson is one.

"There's two people in the world of darts I don't hug and that's James Wade and Gary Anderson. Not that bad, but he told me, "I love you, all the best, but don't cuddle me."