Yes it’s that time of year. I hear people say “oo I hate January  it’s so dark and depressing”

WHAT !!!!  Are they mad ? it’s nearly the start of the 6 Nations.

As an exiled Welshman the memories come flooding back, quite literally, as the part of West Wales I lived in was so wet, I was 15 before I realised you could actually take an anorak off ! (Thanks Rhod)

But for all you men out there, here’s some friendly advice, It’s time to start rubbing your back, flexing that dodgy hamstring, because you know that you are going to have to get out of all shopping and DIY obligations until March 21st.

So start sowing the seeds of doubt immediately, just a gentle limp to start, and a few “oh it’s ok, I’m sure it will pass”.

Don’t forget we’ve got five weekends to get through, so start preparing.

My cryotherapy sessions have already started, and I’m already making at least three trips to the fridge daily.

This is the very best time for us Welsh fans, the last few weeks building up to the start of the tournament… we are unbeaten in 2015, it can only get worse !.

We dream again of another Grand Slam, and then we start negotiating with our maker, to decide which games we would be prepared for Wales to lose, in exchange for beating England…

It’s the start of that magnificent winter festival, when we lie awake in the middle of a silent, cold frosty night, and remember trips to Paris, Murrayfield, HQ, and Rome, when those of us of a certain age get misty eyed recalling JPR, Gareth, Benny, JJ, and for those of you as old as me, Keith Jarrett and Barry John playing on a grainy black and white TV.

And each championship brings new ones to add to the memory bank.

This magnificent winter festival never lets us down.

Wherever you are and whoever you support, may the 2016 RBS 6 Nations send you on your way towards spring, with a long list of outstanding chores, and memories to cherish.

So as the 2015 RBS 6 Nations consigns itself to the history books,  it is worth considering if there is correlation with how a country does in the RBS 6 Nations Championship and how they perform at the following Rugby World Cup?

In the 2003, England won the Grand Slam, and then went on to lift the Webb Ellis Trophy, in Australia, in the November, after being given a scare by Wales in the qurarter fnals..

France who were third in the championship took 4th place at the World Cup.

Ireland were 2nd in the 6 Nations and were knocked out by France in the quarter-finals

2007 saw England finished 3rd in the 6N Championship and they made it to the World Cup final where they lost to South Africa, although Mark Cueto may disagree.

France took the RBS 6 Nations title that year but only finished 4th in the World Cup
Cup that was staged in their own country.

I cannot bring myself to mention a certain match in Nantes between Wales and Fiji without the agreement of my GP.
In 2011 it was England who were RBS 6 Nations Champions, but they were beaten by France, who had finished runners-up, in the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup.

France in turn went on to lose to hosts New Zealand in the final

Ireland finished third, ahead of Wales by points difference in the RBS 6 Nations Championship, but were well beaten by the Sam Warburton’s  men in the RWC quarter-final in Wellington.

Wales finished 4th in the World Cup, after losing to France in a heart-breaking Semi final, and then by Australia a few days later in the bronze match..

So, make of that what you will.

My Dad never talked much about his playing days, which were shrouded in mystery, he was Born in Burry Port and spent his early life in New Street.

His appearances at Stradey Park were not well documented, and the only bit of information the rest of the family could provide me with, was the fact that he got sent off, which was quite some feat in West Wales in the “sixties”

These were the days when the only way could only tell that a prop was running was by the expression on his face.

My Dad did speak fondly and in awe of his fellow prop in the Llanelli schoolboy’s side, one John Warlow.

John was different, and his name was mentioned with a whisper, in a hushed voice, in our house, as if in reverence to a deity.

John Warlow was born in Dafen, near Llanelli on 13 Feb 1939

He played for local side Felinfoel before joining Llanelli in the 1957-58 season, just as he was establishing himself in the Scarlets team, his rugby career was interrupted by two years national service with Welch regiment.

He returned to Stradey Park, in 1960 where he established himself as a top class prop, 6ft 1ins tall and weighing in at 15 stones.

He was selected by Wales for the game against Ireland in Dublin Nov 1962, a 5 Nations match held over from the previous season due a smallpox outbreak in the Rhondda.

The match ended in a 3-3 draw.

This proved to be his one and only cap, as he signed professional terms for St Helens Ruby League side on 23 October 1963.

He was signed in a pub by the then secretary Basil Lowe and Saints Chairman Harry Cook, the directors of Workington Town were also present attempting to sign `Big John`

Also in attendance to witness, and later celebrate, the signing of a Saint, were John`s team-mates from Llanelli.

On 30 November 1963 he made his St Helens debut against Liverpool City.

Away from his beloved homeland he lodged with a landlady called Minnie Cotton.

Minnie received national attention when she single-handedly invaded the pitch,  in the 1966 Championship Final against Halifax, and set about a couple of Halifax forwards with her umbrella as retribution for some rough play against her lodger.

Warlow played in the successful Saints teams of the sixties and early seventies, and was a stalwart of the “pack of aces” playing alongside great forwards like Cliff Watson, John Mantle, Kel Coslett, John Tembey, Mervyn Hicks, Ray French and Doug Laughton.

Warlow was a tough nut with the ball in his hands and a powerful tackler, and his unstinting efforts and consistent performances should have been rewarded with more international caps.

He had two spells with the Saints, leaving the Club after the end of the 1968/69 season for a stint with local rivals Widnes, who he captained for three seasons, and returned to Knowsley Road in November 1973 to complete his dazzling career with the Saints.

His last match for the Saints was against Leeds in the 1975 Premiership Final against Leeds when Saints dipped surprisingly after winning the Championship at a canter.

In 245 games for St Helens, he scored a total of 27 tries.

He played six times for Great Britain rugby league side between 1964 and 1971 also touring Australia and New Zealand with the team for the 1968 Rugby League World Cup.

John also played three times for the Wales rugby league team 1968-1970.

After thirteen years in the North, his playing career was over and John returned to South Wales, becoming the steward of the Burry Port British Legion.

There is not much written in the annals of rugby about this great warrior, but he achieved greatness in both codes.

John Warlow is a member of the St Helens hall of fame, and when you look at the elite members of this exclusive “band of brothers” you realise how much he is still held in awe by those in Lancashire who saw him play, …maybe you were right all along Dad !

Charles Gerald Taylor was born on 8 May 1863.

He was a Royal Navy officer and Welsh international player who played club rugby for Blackheath.

He was the first Welsh international to be killed in action during World War I

Taylor was an all-round athlete, and at one time was the Welsh pole vault champion, he joined the Royal Navy on 1 July 1885, when he was an acting assistant engineer.

Much of Taylor’s career was spent at training or other shore establishments, however, shortly after the outbreak of World War I,  on 16 September 1914 he was posted to the HMS Queen Mary, then on 20 November he was transferred to HMS Tiger.

On 24 January 1915, Tiger was one of the vessels engaged in the Battle of Dogger Bank. HMS Tiger was struck by fire from a German cruiser, and Taylor died during the engagement.

Unusually Taylor was not buried at sea, and his body was returned to Britain to be buried at Tavistock New Cemetery n Devon.

His international rugby career began in 1884 when he made his debut for Wales against England.

Wales lost the game but Taylor played in the two remaining games of the championship  against Scotland and Ireland.

In 1885, Taylor made his first international score when he converted a try, though as no points were given to conversions at the time he is recorded with no career score.

Taylor was instrumental in setting up a rugby club for Welshmen exiled in London.

A club was formed in June 1885, and Taylor became a committee member,and on 21 October became a member of the very first London Welsh team.

Taylor’s final game for Wales was in 1887 against Ireland in a win at Birkenhead.

I love Brian Moore, it is a relationship that didn’t begin well.

I’m Welsh you see, and in the 1980’s Brian was the “go to” man for us Welsh supporters who were witnessing an annual thrashing by England.

Wales v England 1995, at Cardiff Arms Park, he was a snarling ball of sweat and saliva, he terrified me, (and I was sat at the back of the west stand).

Fortunately the French seemed particularly susceptible to his Anglo saxon charm, and found Brian and co the rugby equivalent of Waterloo. (The battle, not the station)

Les Bleus front rows would visibly dissolve, physically and emotionally, until they were either totally P’d off, or sent off.

My view of Brian began to change, when in a magazine article, he recommended a particular cabinet Sauvignon that was economically viable for me, and it actually tasted good.

Sadly I went at it in the manner of Vincent Moscato, as a result I no longer drink alcohol.

I will not dwell on Brian’s playing career, as it gives me horrific flashbacks of trips, to Twickenham, and Cardiff that I, and most of Wales, would wish to forget.

But for me it is Brian’s media career that has totally won me over.

He speaks for us, the people who spend our lives in the grip of this wonderful game, he also, somehow manages to remain totally impartial and don’t we just love it when he starts on Eddie Butler ?

If someone had told me 20 years ago, that I would writing an article praising Brian Moore, I would have thought they were suffering from an overdose of the afore-mentioned cabinet Sauvignon.

Don’t change a thing Brian, keep on keeping on, and who knows maybe one day, in yours and my lifetime, we may see the scrum refereed according to the letter of the law.

Now that would be a birthday present worth getting.

“Never meet your idols, they’ll only disappoint”… is a well worn phrase, well let me tell you, when I met the great “Gerald of Wales” my hero worshiping increased to a degree that could be measured on the Richter scale.

I was on a flight from Cardiff to Dublin, for the 1988 triple crown decider, between Ireland and Wales. We shook hands and had a chat, where he revealed his friendliness, modesty, and unassuming nature.

Maybe it was due to the gin and tonic I bought him, but I don’t think so.

For those of you unlucky enough not have been around in the 1970’s, Gerald Davies, or “Reames” as he was known by his team mates, was a winger, actually he was “the” winger.

At 5ft 9ins and 11st 7lbs, he would not have the physical attributes to become a “ball boy” in today’s modern game.

To cut a long story short he played 46 times for Wales, and 5 times for the British Lions

I was born in the West Wales village of Kidwelly, and Gerald was born in Llansaint, a stone’s throw away.

Locals would look up to the misty green hills of Llansaint, to see where Gerald was born, with a reverence only otherwise seen on the faces of pilgrims arriving at Santiago de compostela.

Always looking immaculate, both on and off the field, in the scarlet jersey of Wales he had his trade mark turned up collar, and with his neat moustache he looked like a Dickensian “well to do”

Tries, great tries, too many to mention. I’ve lost count of the number times he squeezed in at the “Taff end” at the old Arms Park. The touch in goal flag uprooting like an Exocet missile every time he launched himself into the corner

It was like “groundhog day”  Delme palms, Edwards to John (I can hear BIll McLaren as I write !!) Bergiers, Arthur Lewis, Gerald Davies… what a try !

The one performance that sticks in my mind, is for the British Lions against Hawkes Bay in 1971, the great man scored four tries that day. The black and white TV footage of one try, looks like a keystone cops silent movie, with defenders throwing themselves in all directions as Gerald side steps, shimmies, swerves to score untouched in the corner.

Gerald retired from international rugby in 1988, and has served rugby, and Wales, in various roles with the respect of everyone associated with the game, his integrity shines like a beacon, even in the cut throat world of modern day professional sport.

He also wrote wonderful poetic, evocative articles for The Times newspaper.

The poem “How fast was Gerald Davies Dad ?” written by the immortal bard, Max Boyce, produced a tribute that cannot be matched.

With apologies to Max, for paraphrasing,

Basically, Gerald Davies can turn his bedroom light off, and be in bed before it’s dark, thats how fast my son !

When I started refereeing in 1980, at the tender age of 22, I wrote to Clive, for advice. I sent the letter addressed to “Mr Clive Norling, Referee, Birchgrove, Swansea.

Such was his fame,the letter got to its destination, in two days (and I posted it 2nd class)

Clive kindly wrote back with all the advice and inspiration you would expect, such was the detail, he even advised me which whistle to use (the acme thunderer)

Sadly I have lost the letter, but the one bit of advice I still remember is “the referee is the least important person on the field, the game is for the players” that I think summed up Clive’s philosophy, although you could never accuse him of being anonymous on the pitch, whether it be the tight shorts, the perm, or the huge and somewhat portly frame, sandwiched into that red shirt, with the three feathers bursting to escape from the left pectoral region.

My first match with the Dorset and Wilts society on a Boxing day in Weymouth, came with a request from the home hooker to move the scrum five metres to the right, when I enquired somewhat puzzled  “why” ?, he replied “my hooker has just been sick”

Clive’s letter didn’t cover advice on this kind of situation.

From his first international in 1978, between Ireland and New Zealand, to his last in 1991, he had a real empathy for the game, and funnily enough most of the games he refereed were entertaining to watch, although the light aircraft flour bombing the New Zealand v South Africa match, at which he was officiating was a somewhat added extra.

All I know is that he inspired me to take up the whistle for 10 years with  Dorset/Wilts and briefly the London Society, I even grew a moustache to make me look more like him.

After he hung up his whistle Clive inspired at an even greater level.

He publicised his battle with depression in an effort to help others combat the illness, and to raise awareness of this still somewhat taboo subject.

Perhaps this will be his greatest legacy

We are very lucky in Wales when it comes to our top referees, and Clive’s spirit lives on with the wonderful Nigel Owens, long may it continue.