Nicola Sturgeon pokes fun at rugby with '˜indyref' tweet

Nicola Sturgeon made the comment in the aftermath of the Six Nations match. Picture: John Devlin

Scotland’s First Minister posted a number of tweets backing Vern Cotter’s men, including one after the match saying: “No one ever said it would always be easy being Scottish. But it’s still pretty damn cool. And I’m still very proud of @Scotlandteam.”

But it was Ms Sturgeon’s response to a tweet from Ryan McManus that generated the biggest reaction.

McManus, a financial analyst based in London, made reference to the projected timespan for a second referendum on Scottish independence and tweeted: “BREAKING: Nicola Sturgeon seeks England v Scotland rematch as the result isn’t to her liking. Thinking about an autumn 2018 decider.”

The exchange on Twitter. Picture: Contributed

Ms Sturgeon retweeted the post to her 587,000 followers adding a tongue-in-cheek comment: “Who leaked this?”

The post has been retweeted more than 4,400 times and ‘liked’ over 11,000 times at the time of writing.

Ms Sturgeon has form for adding a personal touch to tweets.

In January 2016 she took a Sky News journalist to task after he commented on the First Minister wearing a similar outfit to a Northern Irish journalist and DUP leader Arlene Foster.

And in July 2015, Ms Sturgeon hit out at the News Statesman magazine over what she felt was an outdated cover.

It featured an illustration of Ms Sturgeon, along with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the then Home Secretary Theresa May and Labour MP Liz Kendall pictured standing around a crib containing a ballot box, suggesting they have sacrificed motherhood for political success.

And Ms Sturgeon criticised the cover in a tweet saying: “Jeezo...we appear to have woken up in 1965 this morning!”