One of the joys of visiting Dublin for a rugby international is sitting watching the sun set over Dublin Bay with a cold pint of Guinness for company, a drop of the black stuff always seems to taste that little bit better in the emerald isle.

There a few myths about this wonderful creation, firstly it is not made with water from the nearby River Liffey, that flows alongside the St James’s gate brewery in the heart of Dublin, the water comes from the beautiful Wicklow mountains further south

Also, I hate to tell you, Guinness is not actually black but rather a dark shade of red, a colour the brewers attribute to the roasting of malted barley during the preparation process.

So with Wales visiting the Aviva Stadium for their final Rugby World Cup preparation match, at the weekend a drop of the red stuff was essential both on and off the field.

A defeat to Ireland meant Welsh followers were set to drown their sorrows in a sunny Dublin as despite a promising first half their second half was very flat, and those with a thick head this morning will spare a thought for Rhys Patchell who left the field for an HIA and never returned.

Having lost Gareth Anscombe in the opening warm up game against England to lose another fly half for the World Cup would be disastrous.

Ireland will be happy with the fact they have beaten Wales home and away in the space of a fortnight which will do a lot to help repair their confidence after being battered by England at Twickenham.

It was also a day for raising a glass to Rory Best the Ulster hooker and coach Joe Schmidt, both making their final appearance at home in the Aviva.

How these warm up games will affect either team come the Rugby World Cup will become evident in two weeks time in the land of the rising scrum.

But for now the sunset is slowly fading and the bay and the Guinness are calling.

Sláinte.

I’m pretty sure rock guitarist and song writer Gary Moore was not a follower of French rugby, but his lyrics to Parisienne Walkways were the theme to my first ever trip to Paris to see Wales at the Parc des Princes in 1979, those were the days when France were France, they could combine breathtaking beauty and spine chilling thuggery in equal measure, and often in the same move.

An awful lot of water has passed under Pont Neuf since then, and these days Gary’s composition  “Still got the blues” seems a much more appropriate theme.

“It used to be so easy to give my heart away” 

  “But I found out the hard way there’s a price you have to pay”

Indeed it was so easy to give my heart away to Serge, Phillipe, Denis and co, and it was the fab three Blanco, Sella and Charvet, that seduced me with their flair, style, elegance and angles of running that would have even had Pythagoras purring.

With their collars turned up against the warm Parisian spring sunshine, these players made rugby Sexy, they had a swagger and a confidence, and a sheer joy that translated onto the field of play.

France could also provide a more earthy kind of love if that was your preference, in the form of Cholley, Paparemborde and Condom, yes Jean Condom (who never practised safe rugby), but for pure romance it was always the numbers neuf to quinze.

The years that we thought would last forever somehow faded ,we were left with warm memories, and although we had glimpses of romantic reconciliations they were few and far between, the holiday romance of RWC 1999 was short and sweet as Bernat-Salles, Dominici and Lamaison seduced us, all too briefly, once more.

“So many years since I’ve seen your face here in my heart there’s an empty space”

The world of rugby moved on and big became beautiful, but still every now and then the beauty shone past the beast in the form of Gael Fickou, Wesley Fofana and more recently Teddy Thomas, but sadly French rugby occupied the region even lower than the doldrums, and confidence and flair failed to bloom in those dark nether regions.

“You’re playing to win but you lose just the same”

We can still dream that some way, some how, in the land of the rising scrum, the emptiness can be at least partially filled by the new Romantics Dupont, Penaud and Ntmack, maybe the time is right for another holiday romance .

“Though the days come and go, there is one thing I know, I’ve still got the blues for you”

Firstly to explain to the uninitiated, Calon is the Welsh word for heart, which will hopefully explain the title of this piece, just as you were about to question my sanity, quite rightly, and probably not for the first time, or indeed the last.

Anyway I digress, there is a patch of grass in the centre of Cardiff that has an almost reverential status for welsh rugby people, the ghosts that inhabit this stadium do so with a haunting presence that seeps into your soul, Gareth, JPR, Gerald, Jiffy, Barry, Shane and a list that goes on and on.

The pitch at the Millenium Stadium, now known as Principality, but forever known to my generation as the Arms Park, was turned 90 degrees in 1999 when the new stadium was built, but it is still the same patch of grass that has filled us with lifetime memories good and bad, we can all tell you in which corner Gareth and Ieuan scored, which corner JPR barged Gourdon into touch, and the exact spot where Paul Thorburn kicked that monster penalty.

Wales did not lose a five nations match in Cardiff between 1968 and 1980, but after that it was pretty much full your boots time for visiting teams, everyone came and won including Western Samoa, Canada and Romania

But after years of invaders coming without any fear, Cardiff has once again become a bit of a fortress.

As Warren Gatland prepares for his final home game as Wales coach, a win against Ireland on Saturday would stretch their unbeaten run to 12 matches, one short of Wales all time record of 13 matches unbeaten between 1907 and 1912.

Wales last defeat on home soil came in November 2017, and to none other than New Zealand, since then they have defeated South Africa Scotland and England on two occasions along with Italy, Australia, Tonga, Ireland, and France, incidentally one of the home games against South Africa was played in Washington D.C., such is the way in modern professional rugby.

The Cardiff factor has been a big part of Wales reaching the number one spot  in the World Rugby Rankings, something those of us who witnessed Canada, Western Samoa, the whole of Samoa, and Romania capturing our flag on home ground, would never have dreamed possible.

It may not count for much in Rugby World Cup year, but for those that spend their hard earned cash on vastly overpriced and frequently changed replica shirts, and those who save up every two years to go to Dublin, Paris, Rome and Edinburgh well they have earned enough “Misery  Miles” to bask in every second that Wales spend at that top spot, these days may never return.

So as our friends from across the Irish sea join us on Saturday, a Wales home win could keep the home fires burning, and a whole new range of rugby ghosts will prepare to haunt this wonderful sporting cathedral for the next generation of rugby mad Taffs, and that’s just as it should be.

The Rugby Football Union (RFU) has today confirmed the process for finalising the next three-year structure of the Tyrrells Premier 15s – the top-flight women’s domestic rugby competition in England.

In the first half of the upcoming season (2019/20) the RFU will audit all ten existing Tyrrells Premier 15s clubs on a combination of their ability to deliver the Minimum Operating Standards and their on pitch performance.

This audit will be independently verified and the clubs ranked from 1 to 10 based on the audit results. 

Following this, the top six ranked teams will be invited to join the next three-year league structure covering seasons 2020/21 to 2022/23.

The bottom four ranked teams will be invited to re-tender for a place in the competition should they wish to do so. At the same time, applications for tender will open to all clubs that wish to apply.

Expression of interest letters are being issued this week to all RFU member clubs, universities and colleges in England.

All tenders will be assessed by a selection panel and a shortlist will be created.

The original four Tyrrells Premier 15s teams who were invited to tender and the winners of the Championship North and Championship South divisions will be automatically shortlisted provided that they choose to tender to join the next three-year competition structure. They will be joined by any other teams meeting the shortlist criteria.

All successfully shortlisted clubs will be invited to interview and assessed by the selection panel.

The best four teams selected by the selection panel after the interview and assessment stage will then be invited to join the league starting from the 2020/21 season. The new structure will be maintained for three years and then reviewed again for the 2023/24 season.

This proposal means that potentially a maximum of four teams could be removed from the Tyrrells Premier 15s at the end of the 2019/20 season. These teams would then be included within the Women’s Championship competition by increasing the pool size of Championship North and Championship South to a maximum of 10 teams each.

Nicky Ponsford, RFU Head of Women’s Performance said: “We are delighted by the progress made by Tyrrells Premier 15s clubs over the last two years and by their commitment to driving the programme forward. This process allows us to recognise the input of the clubs but still open up the league to potential new entrants with a geographical spread maintained where possible. This keeps the focus on minimum standards and ensures we continue to raise the bar and increase performance.”

Nigel Melville, RFU Professional Rugby Director added: “The commitment and dedication from all clubs as well as the standard of rugby over the first two seasons has been fantastic. 

“The league was initially set up for three years to give clubs a chance to embed, grow, invest and develop support services. It also coincides with World Cup cycles so there’s minimal disruption to players.

“We always felt this was the best time to review as we aim to create the best domestic 15s women’s competition in the world which will give us the winning advantage on the world stage.

“The purpose of the league will remain the same. It’s a competition at the highest domestic level of the women’s game which continues to support the overall objective to produce winning teams for England Women 15s and 7s teams.

“We want the women’s game to continue to flourish at all levels and know a strong domestic game is imperative in increasing participation and interest.”

The events of last Sunday afternoon, near the Thames, could have proved to be a watershed moment for Wales, come RWC 2019, but the tide turned yesterday when the contest between Wales and England moved 143 miles downstream to the banks of the Rive Taff.

Wales were left up the creek without a paddle at Twickenham last Sunday, and the misery didn’t end there as the Rugby World Cup waters got even choppier with the news that Gareth Anscome had been ruled out of the tournament with a knee injury.

On Saturday under the roof of a sold out Principality stadium, it was never going to be plain sailing, but Wales came out and played with pace and determination, they dominated possession and territory in the opening quarter, and were unrecognisable from the team that ran aground at Twickenham.

England were caught floundering, treading water against the red tide, and the perfect ten, man of the match Dan Biggar, dominated proceedings, which makes Gareth Anscombe’s loss just that little bit easier to bear.

This warm up game became overheated on several occasions with the usual suspects to the fore, it was tough hard fought match in front of a 73,931 spectators, but fortunately it appears both teams escaped without any significant injury worries.

The match remained scoreless until a Dan Biggar penalty in the 25th minute, George North’s try, seven minutes later, after some quick and inspired thinking from Biggar, following Anthony Watson’s yellow card,  helped give Wales a 10-0 lead at half time.

It took England fifty minutes to get on the scoreboard with a George Ford penalty, he repeated the feat in the 56th minute to make the score 10-6.

The men in white never looked like crossing the welsh try line, despite a second half resurgence, and a Leigh Halfpenny penalty on 76 minutes sealed the game for Wales.

Wales are now the number one side in the world according to the World Rugby rankings to be announced this morning, meaningless maybe but not to the wonderful Welsh fans who were around in the 80s and 90s, for them this will be a moment to savour.

The journey from the Thames to the Taff proved to be a good one for the men in red, they return here in two weeks time when they face Ireland, before another river comes into view, the Liffey in Dublin for a rematch the following week.

Rugby success, like the Thames, and the Taff, ebbs and flows, but Wales will enjoy a few tranquil nights sleep, with their dreams all the sweeter for seeing off the old enemy in their own backyard.

It’s quite a shock to the system to find international rugby taking place on these shores less than a week after the first ashes test has been completed, but in Rugby World Cup year the already suffocating demands on the modern rugby player become positively breathless.

On a warm summer Sunday afternoon as the smoke from pub barbecues drifted almost seamlessly along the length of the Thames, England and Wales faced each other at Twickenham in the first of the many World Cup warm up matches that will fill the August weekends.
There have been two previous encounters between these two sides at HQ this time of year, and even just the thought of those matches sends a collective shiver down the national Welsh spine.

On August 4 2007, a crowd of 66,132 watched an experimental England side demolish Wales 62-5 an humiliation only surpassed some weeks later by a defeat to Fiji that knocked them out of the Rugby World Cup in France, a loss that ushered in the reign of current coach Warren Gatland

In 2011 Wales also lost albeit narrowly 23-19, but the match will be remembered for the horrific broken leg suffered by Morgan Stoddard, that to all intents and purposes ended his career.

So the men in red were hoping for something a little more uplifting yesterday, they started the day as the number one side in the world, following the All Blacks defeat to Australia, Alun Wyn Jones was celebrating his 126th cap, all appeared well in Wales world.

By 4pm with the barbeques still in full swing, Wales had dropped to second in the World rankings and suffered yet another Twickenham pre RWC defeat by 33 points to 19.

A crowd of 80,944 saw England get off to a flying start, whilst a lethargic tired looking Wales struggled to get into the game, the home side led 21-7 at the break, with Wales looking as rusty as a second hand Fiat.

An improved second half by Wales brought them within one score of England with the score at 24-19 after 51 minutes, before the home side pulled away during the final quarter.

The cliché that Wales are notorious slow starters is close to becoming a cold hard fact, and with a six day turnaround before the face England again, in Cardiff, there is not much time available, but they will surely perform better after this excursion.

As the setting sun shimmered on the Thames, Wales fans joined locals at the Dog and Duck, the final barbecued sausages were just about to be lifted off the grill, sadly there was no bread of heaven to wrap them in, and whilst their team took a bit of roasting, there is still hope that the fare on offer on the banks of the River Taff next Saturday will feed them till they want no more.

If only there had been a Rugby World Cup in the 1970’s there is surely no doubt that Wales would have won it at least once.

JPR, Gerald, Merv, Gareth, Syd, Ray, JJ, Benny, The King, how they would have loved the chance to play in such a tournament.

I view Wales and the Rugby World Cup as a four yearly emotional Everest, where sometimes we never get past base camp, and occasionally turn up in inappropriate footwear and a t-shirt.

I wont drag you through my personal turmoil since the first tournament in 1987, but actually the inaugural tournament went quite well for the men in red.

Apart from an absolute thrashing by the All Blacks in the semi final, we actually finished third, beating Ireland in the group stages, England in the Quarters, and Australia in the 3rd place play-off, but in true Welsh style it took a last-minute conversion from the touch-line to win the match, it wouldn’t do to win a match comfortably would it ?

Since then its been sadness in South Africa, Woe in Wales, Agony in Australia and Fiji in France. AND you only have to say Sam.. and you immediately think red card and Numbness in New Zealand.

I still relive that match in the sleepless dark hours of early morning thinking if Leigh Halfpenny had been our regular goal kicker at that time we would have surely got through to the final.

Four years ago, in 2015, it was tears at Twickenham, as an injury hit Wales side led South Africa 19-18 in the quarter finals with 74:05 on the clock, until a late try won it for the Boks.

A part of me is excited beyond belief about the tournament in Japan, but also I’m already looking ahead with panic at a potential situation where we have to beat Fiji  in the  penultimate group match to qualify for the knock out stages.

Maybe as part of our national psyche the sporting gods sprinkle on our sport all consuming emotions either good or bad, because that’s the way we really like it.

But just this once please can we do it, and can we do it without the gut wrenching agony that we have come to expect.

If there was Karma in sport, then after the semi final in 2011, it is assured that we will be playing in the final, at Yokohama against the All Blacks on November 2.

If it happens send me a text, I will probably be behind the sofa !

Is it really four years since the glorious RWC 2015 tournament when the sun shone and Engand became the only host country not to progress from the group stages, life was sweet.

So for those unable to travel to the land of the rising scrum to witness the 2019 Rugby World Cup first hand, the time has come to embark once again on the dreadful early morning pub experience that is part and parcel of a Rugby World Cup far away.

So my friends here we are in a different time zone following a tournament that will inevitably take a detrimental toll on our physical and mental health.

Apart from the almost out of body experience of crossing the threshold of your local Ember Inn at such an ungodly hour, there are serious health implications to consider.

Now when I was young there were no such dilemmas, it may seem hard to believe but in 1971 all international rugby  matches kicked off in the middle of the afternoon, also television coverage was not available, so it was under the bed covers with a transistor radio the size of a microwave at 4am trying to tune in to a commentary from down under via the short wave.

It was tough, but on the plus side we never had to endure three hours of Will Greenwood and Scott Quinnell previewing each test match, whoever ITV select for their analyists remains to be seen.

The cummulative effect of more than three consecutive Saturday mornings will inevitably increase your exposure to these dangers, and of course the long term repercussions.

But back to the health implications I spoke about earlier,  I am of course referring to the dietary minefield that comes with watching early morning rugby in a pub, or wine bar ,if you happen to live in Richmond.

Do you start with a cappuccino or a Guinness ? and as the aroma of sausages cooking in the pub kitchen invades the lounge bar , can you be strong enough to stick to your original choice of wholemeal toast and flora ?

It takes nerves of steel to stick with the courage of your convictions, and a stomach of steel to survive the results of any lack of will power, so there are no real winners here.

Sufferers of high blood pressure, or hypertension as travel insurance providers prefer to call it, are particularly at risk due to several factors.

Firstly there is the almost cast iron certainty that the seat you have carefully selected and occupied since the pub opened, giving you optimum view of the big screen, will be totally eclipsed when the largest resident of the town that you happen to be in, drags his, or her, bar stool in front of your line of vision five minutes before kick off, just breathe deeply and count to ten.

Secondly as the referee blows his whistle to start the game, the television will mysteriously switch channels and instead of watching George North steaming down the wing, you will be gazing at James Martin on Saturday morning kitchen, steaming his dumplings, I would suggest counting to twenty for this one.

Finally there is the 11am exit into bright daylight that has you blinking watery eyed like a pit pony with hay fever as your befuddled brain reminds you that there are still thirteen hours of the day remaining for you to somehow negotiate.

I don’t pretend to know all the answers, and more illustrious scribes that I have wrestled with this problem.

Unsympathetic partners may take advantage of your lethargic state and lure you to the supermarket with coffee and pastry enticements, but beware,before you know it you will pushing a fully loaded trolley between the dog food and homeware aisles, with your latte and pecan Danish a distant dream.

Good luck my friends,  if it’s any consolation you are not alone.

Shiggy Konno fought in World War II as a bomber pilot at the age of twenty one, by the the time he reached the ripe old age of twenty two, he volunteered to join a kamikaze squadron.

On his twenty third birthday he was told that his one and only mission would take place in a matter of weeks, he wrote a will and sent a letter to his parents saying goodbye, he  received his ceremonial Hachimaki (Helmet and scarf) and a bottle of Saki which he was due to drink on the morning of his mission.

Shiggy drank the whole bottle with his mate much sooner that he was supposed to, and was pretty hacked off that he couldn’t get a replacement bottle.

His squadron were due to fly in August 1945. but for some reason the mission was put back to the first week of September, Japan surrendered on August 14, so Shiggy lived.,

Shiggy Konno lived off this story, to say he dined out on it would be a vast understatement, this wonderfully engaging man would open up with this tale at every event with a cheeky smile and a glint in his eye, announcing himself as one of a very rare breed, a failed Kamikaze pilot.

He spoke perfect English, learned at a primary school in London when his father was manager of the Mitsubishi Bank.

When he was asked why he had to wait so long for a kamikaze mission he was told that only the best pilots would be used.

Interviewed In 1991 he said “I thought I was a good pilot, but I was told by my superiors that they didn’t think that I could hit Europe, never mind an American battleship.,

Konno played Prop for Doshiba University and was deprived of an international career due to the second world war.

His English was so good he became an ideal choice as a liaison officer which led to a brilliant career in rugby administration.

He was an executive member of the International Rugby Board from 1991 to 2000, manager of Japan on pretty much every overseas tour from 1963 to 1990 including three to the UK, and also at the 1987 and 1991 Rugby World Cup.

His impressive CV also shows him holding the roles at various times of Hon Secretary, Chairman and President of the Japan RFU.

Her Majesty the Queen awarded him the OBE in 1985 for his services to rugby and for helping to improve Anglo-Japanese relations.

Shiggy died on 1 April 2007, and his funeral was held in Zojoji temple in Tokyo the head temple of the Jodo sect of Buddhism in the Kanto region.

Every now and then a player comes along that transcends the ordinary, a player who when he gets ball makes you shuffle towards the edge of the seat, makes you draw breath sharply for that split second, and even before they have done anything your pulse begins to quicken.

Interestingly these players tend to be small of stature, which in the modern game where size is everything, makes the wonder of this rare species even more exhilarating.

Gerald Davies, Shane Williams, Jason Robinson all had these qualities and an ability to excite, they even made the hagggered hacks in the press box feel a tingle down the spine, something that years of written deadlines had all but extinguished.

These players are now all retired but their legacy lives on in the the shape, flair and raw speed of Cheslin Kolbe, all 5ft 7 and 11st 9lbs of him.

A few eyebrows were raised when Springbok coach, Rassie Erasmus, called up Cheslin Kolbe for last year’s Rugby Championship.

Regarded by many rugby pundits as “too small” for test rugby, it had been a case of “out of mind, out of sight” for the former Western Province and Stormers flyer after he had joined French club Toulouse in 2017.

like so many occasions previously, Kolbe proved people wrong, he took to Test rugby like a Bok to water. He made his debut in Brisbane against Australia, replacing Makazole Mapimpi in the 33rd minute, and scored his first test try a week later against the All Blacks, after intercepting an Anton Lienert-Brown pass in the Boks’ famous 36-34 win in Wellington.

 “I have been facing critics about my size since I started my senior career,  I don’t believe in size and weight but rather in a positive mind-set towards the game,” .

Twitter and Instagram have been awash with videos of the former Blitzbok ripping defences apart in the Top 14 for Toulouse, where he has become a cult-hero, the fans love him and Kolbe and his young family have settled down well in the south of France.

“My wife Layla and 2-year-old daughter Kylah are well settled in and loving life in Toulouse. I always say to people that to me Toulouse is similar to Cape Town, the only difference is that you don’t have all your family around, but the lifestyle and people are fantastic.

The 2019 European Player of the Year nominee says he loved his introduction to test rugby in 2018.

“Last year was a dream come true for me. Being called up to the Springboks and making my test debut is something I will cherish for the rest of my life. I’ve learned so much as a player in the time I’ve been a part of the Boks, and I’ll keep on learning. I had the best time with the brothers, it’s really a good team culture and atmosphere. No egos.” 

Born in Kraaifontein, a suburb of Cape Town, he is the cousin of South African  athletics star Wayde Van Niekerk, who won gold at the 2016 Olympics, so there is some gas in those genes.

He now has his sights set on the Rugby World Cup. “We are blessed with lots of quality outside backs in South Africa, and I see that as a positive for all of us, because that keeps us all on our toes and can just improve each and everyone’s game. Definitely giving everything I have to be part of the 2019 RWC in Japan and will just play the best rugby I can.”

Kolbe’s versatility, he is happy to play at fullback wing, can count in his favour come RWC selection time. “I’m comfortable and having fun at both wing and fullback. To me it’s a similar job. At fullback you have more time on the ball and have to make clever decisions from the back. So I’m happy to play either of the two as long as I can add great value to the team and that my performance will be to a great benefit for the team,” he concluded.

Nine days ago he won the Top 14 title in Paris with Toulouse, the “Lightning Bug” as he is nicknamed, may be small but I predict he will be big in Japan come the Rugby World Cup.