Chestnuts roasting on an open fire was more likely to be an ailment rather than an old Christmas song, considering the way 2020 panned out.

Maybe your Ding Dong didn’t merrily on high this year, but hey Cliff Richard didn’t release a Christmas song, so every cloud and all that.

Rugby wise even covid couldn’t stop some Boxing Day rugby from taking place, and the only new strain that affected me, touch wood ,was the strain put on the trousers by my rapidly expanding waistline.

It looks like 2020 is going out as it came in , with disruptive wind, nothing to do with the brussel sprouts, but rather Storm Bella, which is hitting the west coast as I write.

In Wales Boxing Day rugby was always centred around local derbies, where there was no love lost, the NHS was put under enormous strain even in those far off days, as local rivalries took a pugilistic turn on the field, prior to alcohol poisoning setting in post match.

In the professional era the local derbies in South Wales are not quite so brutal, but they are still bruising hard fought encounters.

This year in Newport the Dragons fire was finally drowned out after 68 minutes in the Gwent rain, and Cardiff Blues sneaked a narrow win by a single point.

The weather conditions were no better 63 miles due West in Llanelli, where Scarlets beat Ospreys in another close result.

A time of Tiers and tears as no spectators were present due to Covid, so it was yet another afternoon on the sofa.

So as the third mince pie bites the dust and the Nespresso machine works it’s magic, it’s time to switch channels to BBC 2 for Wallace and Grommit: A Close Shave, not too dissimilar to the earlier Welsh derbies… at least it’s not the wrong trousers. Maybe Its time to reach for the Wensleydale ?.