On 4 October 1989 France faced the British Lions at Parc des Princes in a match to celebrate the bicentennial of the French Revolution.

The great and the good, and evens yours truly descended on the 16th arrondissement, filling the cafes and bars ,the aroma of “steak frites” filling the balmy night air, and not a guillotine in sight.

28,881 people turned up at various stages of the evening to watch, well you can’t rush a Parisian dinner after all.

Kick off time was scheduled for 8.30pm, but with all the pomp and ceremony it was nearer 9pm before the match actually got underway.

The Lions had won the series in Australia the previous summer, and eleven members of the victorious series winners played in the match.

The Lions scored a try in the opening minutes after a classic Guscott break found Rob Andrew inside, and he ran under the posts untouched, Gavin Hastings converted.

Two further Hastings penalties gave the Lions an early 12-0 lead, before France replied with a Camberabero penalty, and a Serge Blanco try which Camberabero converted, making it 12-9 to the Lions.

A try from Gavin Hastings made gave the Lions a 16-9 lead at half time.

At an hour when most Parisians were heading to their  beds, the second half got underway, with Gavin Hastings landing a penalty, and scoring a try created once again by Guscott, 23-9 to the men in red.

Phillipe Benetton making his France debut pulled a try back for Les Blues, converted by Camberabero (23-15)

A typical Rob Andrew drop goal increased the Lions lead to 26-15, as the match see sawed back and forth.

Camberabero kickked two penalties bringing France right back into the game (26-21), before Gavin Hastings gave the Lions a bit of breathing space with a penalty taking the Lions lead to 29-21

In the final minutes France pounded the Lions try line, before Camberabero went over for a try which he duly convereted.

With the score at 27-29 the Lions were relieved to hear referee Brian Anderson blow his whistle for full time.

A defeat for the hosts, but no heads would roll on this occassion thankfully.

France 27 (9)   British Lions 29 (16)

France Scorers

Blanco Benetton Camberabero Tries

Camberabero 3 Pens 3 Conv

Lions Scorers

Andrew, G.Hastings (2) Tries

Andrew (DG)

G.Hastings 4 pens 1 Conv

New Zealand sports minister Jonathan Coleman, and other government ministers, were rubbing their hands with glee recently, when they announced that they are expecting significant economic gains from the visit of the 2017 Lions.

One NZ journalist told me “The Lions just defecate cash, it’s like Santa arriving with a bag of money which virtually trebles the income of the governing body overnight”

20,000 Lions supporters travelled to the land of the long white cloud in 2005, which resulted in 431,000 international visitor bed nights, of the 360,000 match tickets available on tour, 355,000 were sold.

35,000 lions supporters are expected to arrive in 2017, and everyone is attempting to cash in.

Virtually all accommodation at every venue is sold out, although some basic accommodation is available for £670 a night, in Wellington, on the night of the second test, and they have even thrown Lenny Henry out of the Premier Inn to make a few more dollars more.

in 2005 the NZ national economy benefited by 115 million dollars in foreign exchange gains, and 250 million dollars in tourism receipts.

Whilst some these figures are open to interpretation, what cannot be argued is the fact that New Zealand rugby banked 20.4 million dollars from the 2005 Lions tour.

Last week New Zealand rugby published its annual report for 2016, which showed a loss of six million dollars.

It seems that a visiting Lions tour is the only way to ensure that NZ rugby achieves a  profit.

New Zealand is not the only country to benefit, after the last Lions tour in 2013, the Australian rugby Union made £40m enabling them to wipe out their £12.2m debt.

So it makes it even more galling when the Lions are handicapped by a ridiculous schedule and a total lack of preparation time.

In a five-week period the tour includes matches against all five Kiwi Super Rugby franchises, as well as the New Zealand Maori, and a three Test series against the All Blacks.

The Home Unions committee agreement, drawn up to cover Lions tours from 2001 to 2017, was detrimental to the touring side from the outset, and subsequent coaches have advocated strongly that no tour should depart after 2017 without all the players having at least two weeks preparation time together.

The leverage the Lions financial clout gives them should also have been a major factor in negotiations with New Zealand Rugby this time around.

Many players will leave for New Zealand only 48-hours after playing in the Premiership and Pro12 finals, to face the most brutal schedule the host nation has been able to put together, this should never have been agreed

But it is not just New Zealand that are responsible, lack of cooperation closer to home, in fact at home, has added insult to injury.

A Lions request that the tour should start a week later, to enable the squad to have seven days of preparation before the opening match against a Provincial Union XV, and so that the final test could be played on July 15 rather than July 8, was refused by Premiership Rugby.

Premier rugby said that the decision to oppose any changes to the tour dates was taken in the interests of player welfare, and that the end of the tour would be too close to the start of the new season.

The same body that now propose an eleven month domestic season in England, and support a condensed six nations tournament.

Strange days indeed.

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At the British & Irish Lions squad announcent last Wednesday, the ever increasing list of associated sponsors were announced, not once, but twice and no doubt there were subtle references throughout the day that I missed due to a great buffet and an even greater coffee machine.

The financial side of a Lions tour throws up some staggering statistics, not least the cost of a replica shirt at £120, Which is small fry compared to The Thomas Pink range, an official Sponsor, where you can buy a Lions scarf for £150 or a blazer based on the official Lions range for £495.

At the lower end of their range you can get a pair of socks for £21, which as a man who gets 50 pairs for a fiver in Primark I find absolutely staggering.

But even I weakened last week when I found in my goodie bag, from the launch, a Gillette (another official sponsor) razor and extra blades which as any man knows costs a weeks  wages these days.

I felt like a lottery winner as after three hours of effort I managed to break into the reinforced plastic pack with a bread knife, and perform the complicated locking procedure between the arm of the razor and the blade.

Another gift in the goody bag was a pair of flight pyjamas from the official airline Quantas, to help make the flight down under more comfortable.

My Lions travel schedule will involve an early morning walk downstairs negotiating two cats and a Labrador puppy to get to the television, but it’s the thought that counts.

Warren Gatland has stated that he has spent more time pleasing sponsors than he has watching rugby, the price a head coach has to pay in exchange for the millions of pounds the eleven major sponsors are ploughing in.

The Lions pay each of the home unions a fee of £70,000 per player selected,as compensation for their unavailability to under their nations summer tour.

Insurance cover for the players,on the tour to New  Zealand,will exceed the one million pound mark, and the players wage bill will exceed £3.5 million, so there is a lot of money involved.

The players themselves will receive a basic £70k tour fee plus a lucrative bonus should they win the test series
 

So it’s time for me to try out my official Lions razor I just hope the test series will be a close shave .

Next week I will be looking at the effect a Lions tour has on New Zealand’s national economy. 

Some very interesting figures emerged from my investigation.

It has always been said that rugby is a religion in Wales, so on Easter Saturday a Guinness Pro 12 double-header at the cathedral of Welsh rugby seemed entirely appropriate.

The pilgrimage to the principality stadium resulted in a congregation of 60,642 worshippers from all parts of the country and beyond.

One definition of judgement day is “The time of the last judgement, the end of the world”, and as the Ospreys trudged off the field after their defeat in the opening game,the end of the world appeared to be an extremely apt description of their collective mood.

As for Cardiff Blues, well the book of revelation would not have done justice to their  incredible 35-17 victory, scoring five tries in the process, and from the moment the Ospreys defence parted like the Red Sea, in the 6th minute, there was only one team in it.

Blues led 21-3 at half time and after 46 minutes were 35-3 ahead to the disbelief of everyone present.

Two late tries from the Ospreys gave the scoreboard a less embarrassing look, but this was a good old-fashioned thrashing make no mistake.
Sadly we went from feast to famine in the second game of the day , a Scarlets v Newport Gwent Dragons encounter that made watching paint dry seem like a white knuckle ride in comparison.

Two penalties apiece made it  6-6 at the interval, the most exciting break in a dire first half came from a pitch invader, who even ten minutes into the second half , was still favourite for the man of the match award.

Fortunately after a Jon Davies try on the hour mark, Liam Williams woke us from our slumber with a try and a place kicking display that revealed his ability to hit goalposts from a variety of angles and distances.

In the 79th minute a sweeping move from the Dragons ended with a superb try from Hughes which was without doubt the highlight of this turgid affair

A win for Scarlets that cements their play off hopes, but a huge disappointment for the crowd that was expecting much more in the way of excitement from such a talented back division.

Making his 150th Pro 12 refereeing appearance in the match was Wales’ national treasure Nigel Owens, a remarkable statistic from a remarkable man.

An afternoon under the closed roof of the principality stadium drew to a close, and as the masses exited the dark bowl, blinking into the bright blinding low evening sunlight, the talk of Dragons becoming extinct was on everyone’s lips, a proud rugby land without Dragons ? Blasphemy surely.

In the space of two days this week we have witnessed the best and worst kept secrets of 2017 thus far.

On Tuesday Teresa May announced a general election, to everyone’s surprise, whilst on Wednesday morning Sam Warburton was officially revealed as captain of the 2017 British & Irish lions, hours after the head of world rugby had congratulated him, on Twitter on, his appointment, and various photos were posted showing Sam with the Lions management at the Syon Park hotel in his full Lions kit.

Despite this major leak, there was still a huge sense of anticipation on a sunny spring morning at the Syon Park Hilton in south-west London, as Warren Gatland  unveiled the 41 man squad for the 2017 British & Irish Lions Tour to New Zealand.

A huge media presence gathered to watch the announcement made by tour manager John Spencer, who revealed one by one the names of the 16 English, 12 Welsh, 11 Irish and two Scots that will carry the hopes and dreams of thousands of fans in the land of the long white cloud this summer.

The squad consists of 22 forwards and 19 backs, with Maro Itoje the youngest player at the age of 22.

On his choice of Warburton as captain Gatland had this to say:

“Sam is a great player, an outstanding leader and a winning Lions captain”.

“We believe that Sam’s experience and leadership qualities make him an obvious choice as captain. He has earned the respect of his peers and coaches through his resilience, tenacity and hard work.”

On the eve of the announcement Warburton attended a private dinner with all the living Lions captains in the Hilton Syon Park.

 
The modest and delightful young man had this to say  ”

“Being in the same room as so many Lions legends was an amazing experience. I feel humbled and extremely proud to be given the opportunity to captain the Lions for a second Tour and look forward to playing the world champions on their own turf with the best players of the UK and Ireland at my side.”

Sam is such a humble character he may not realise he is actually a Lions legend himself.

Having spoken to Warren, Graham Rowntree and Rob Howley it is evident that the selection of the tour party was a difficult and demanding process and they all felt the weight of responsibility on their shoulders, people may disagree with some of their choices,  but it would be very difficult to question the integrity of the process.

So there we have it, after months of speculation the Lions are raring, or should that be roaring to go.

The Tour Party

Backs

Dan Biggar – Ospreys, Wales

Elliot Daly – Wasps, England

Jonathan Davies – Scarlets, Wales, Lions #778

Owen Farrell – Saracens, England, Lions #780

Leigh Halfpenny – Toulon, Wales, Lions #775

Robbie Henshaw – Leinster Rugby, Ireland

Stuart Hogg – Glasgow Warriors, Scotland, Lions #783

Jonathan Joseph – Bath Rugby, England

Conor Murray – Munster Rugby, Ireland, Lions #790

George North – Northampton Saints, Wales, Lions #792

Jack Nowell – Exeter Chiefs, England

Jared Payne – Ulster Rugby, Ireland

Jonathan Sexton – Leinster Rugby, Ireland, Lions #791

Tommy Seymour – Glasgow Warriors, Scotland

Ben Te’o – Worcester Warriors, England

Anthony Watson – Bath Rugby, England

Rhys Webb – Ospreys, Wales

Liam Williams – Scarlets, Wales

Ben Youngs – Leicester Tigers, England, Lions #799

Forwards

Rory Best – Ulster Rugby, Ireland, Lions #793

Dan Cole – Leicester Tigers, England, Lions #794

Taulupe Faletau – Bath Rugby, Wales, Lions #779

Tadhg Furlong – Leinster Rugby, Ireland

Jamie George – Saracens, England

Iain Henderson – Ulster Rugby, Ireland

Maro Itoje – Saracens, England

Alun Wyn Jones – Ospreys, Wales, Lions #761

George Kruis – Saracens, England

Courtney Lawes – Northampton Saints, England

Joe Marler – Harlequins, England

Jack McGrath – Leinster Rugby, Ireland

Ross Moriarty – Gloucester Rugby, Wales

Sean O’Brien – Leinster Rugby, Ireland, Lions #796

Peter O’Mahony – Munster Rugby, Ireland

Ken Owens – Scarlets, Wales

Kyle Sinckler – Harlequins, England

CJ Stander – Munster Rugby, Ireland

Justin Tipuric – Ospreys, Wales, Lions #786

Mako Vunipola – Saracens, England, Lions #787

Billy Vunipola – Saracens, England

Sam Warburton (Captain) – Cardiff Blues, Wales, Lions #800

I heard last week that plans to condense the six nations are gathering momentum.

Condensation is a dreadful thing, just ask Craig Doyle of BT Rugby, maybe he can use contacts from his old job to double glaze the tournament and prevent this condensation from happening.

This is your Everest boys as Jim Telfer would say.

Ian Richie the CEO of England rugby supports plans to reduce the tournament’s length, and play it over five consecutive weekends

Unlike his namesake, Lionel, I’m not exactly dancing on the ceiling at the prospect

Richie says

“We believe it is perfectly right to have a six-week competition as opposed to seven, it would narrow the off periods and help with the broader narrative, we think it would improve it”

I have to confess I have no idea what a broader narrative is, in this case, and even less of an idea as to whether or not it would be helped, but I do know that once again player welfare has been kicked into touch, and that is as broad a narrative as I need.

England with their strength in-depth may be the only home nation to benefit from such a reduction in recovery time, so maybe this is a factor in Richie’s stance.

Can you imagine  having to play the following weekend after the brutal Wales v Ireland encounter ?

Even more so in the case of the Scottish players, who suffered multiple injuries against England, having to return to action six days after the Twickenham clash would be a massive disadvantage.

The six nations board meet in April, and are expected to ratify plans to adopt a six-week tournament from 2020, with only a one week break between the third and fourth rounds

The old saying if it ain’t broken don’t fix it seems a very apt one in relation to the six nations tournament.

RUGBY WORLD MAGAZINE TWITTER POLL

Last week Rugby world posted a tweet asking “where was the furthest distance anyone had travelled to watch a rugby match”

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I didn’t feel remotely qualified to answer this question, as all my rugby life on and off the field has been spent in Europe.

 
Then it suddenly dawned on me that I must have travelled further than anyone, because following Wales for forty nine years has taken me to hell and back, and that is quite a distance.

The final weekend of the RBS 6 nations, the tournament that straddles the seasons turning  winter into spring.

As with age, this years tournament seems to have passed by even quicker than ever.

This weekend I let the train take the strain and headed to Paris for France v Wales, an encounter which in my youth, invariably decided the outcome of the 5 nations tournament as it was then named.

The title always seemed to go to which ever team had home advantage that year, and the titles transferred hands on an almost annual basis.

A lot of water has passed under the pont neuf since then, and on this super Saturday the encounter had moved down the billing, and was the mid table fixture sandwiched between the wooden spoon and title winners.

A grey blanket hung over the Stade de France with a light drizzle falling since early morning, it looked more Pontypridd than Paris.

An early try by France looked ominous, but Leigh Halfpenny’s boot kept Wales in touch

To cut a long story short, a pretty scrappy uneventful match came to life in the last twenty minutes, unbelievably these were twenty minutes of stoppage time, during which the controversy increased minute by minute.

The match finally ended on 99.55 minutes, (more injury time than a M*A*S*H box set), when Damien Chouly went over for a French try, following eight penalties, one free kick and twelve scrums for the home side.

George North who has now got his bark back, was bitten by a French player, who was unable to be identified by the TMO.

This disgraceful incident may go unpunished due to lack of television footage, but the mark on North’s arm leaves no doubt that it took place, and French comments that it was self-inflicted, if not so hideous, would be laughable.

To add insult to injury France manufactured a way, to get their first choice prop, Rabah Slimani, back on for the vital scrums, when the French doctor Philippe Turblin insisted Antonio go off for a head injury assessment, which he duly did, whilst limping and clutching his groin, thank goodness for the hippocratic oath.

Prior to the change,one of the French coaches could be seen leaving the technical area, to speak to the doctor who then ran on to the field to withdraw Antonio.

Rob Howley the most affable and mild-mannered man you could ever wish to meet had the eyes of a cheated and incensed man, at the press conference following the game, he accused France of bringing the integrity of the game in to disrepute.

In fairness Wales were poor, they hardly threatened the French line, and once again too many basic errors cost them dearly, along with a scrum that was like a blancmange in the face of the gargantuan French eight.

So Spring is here, but Wales left Paris with very little bounce in their step

Au Revoir mes amis

I remember vividly my first France v Wales match in Paris, it was on 17 February 1979, three days after my nineteenth birthday.

With long jet black hair and a face full of acne I felt like I was heading to another planet.

Thirty eight years later as I prepare to head to the city of lights, the acne has gone, but sadly so has all the jet black hair.

In mid February 1979 the whole of Northern Europe was engulfed in sub-zero temperatures, and snow was on the ground as I headed to Heathrow to catch a Gulf Air flight to Paris.

In fact the match itself was in doubt earlier that week, due to a piece of the roof falling off at Parc Des Princes attributed to the Siberian weather that had hit the French capital.

These were the days when airport security was unnecessary and virtually non-existent, the great Wales prop Denzil Williams walked through the boarding gates swigging from a large bottle of brandy, and no one batted an eyelid.

Arriving at Charles de Gaulle airport was like entering another world, it was the first time I had seen a policeman with a gun, in fact the entire staff of the airport appeared to be armed, including the cleaners.

But, the biggest shock of my life was about to occur, my first visit to a French toilet.
Now I had never been outside the UK, and nothing had prepared for the experience of “using” a urinal, whilst a French woman sang and polished the one next to me.

I was from West Wales, where even making eye contact with someone in a lavatory was deemed to be depraved behaviour, and then to cap it all, there was another woman sat at the exit of the establishment, with a saucer full of francs to which I embarrassingly had to make a contribution.

All weekend Paris was engulfed in a freezing cold, misty blanket, which didn’t help my main problem, dog mess !

Now I have never seen, before or since, so much dog mess in one city, as I did in Paris that weekend, I never saw any of the sights as I was too busy looking down at the pavement, leaping around like Rafa Nadal to avoid slipping on either canine excretion or ice.

The epicentre of this problem was right outside the Port de Saint Cloud metro station, the nearest station to the Parc Des Princes, where France played in those days, as did the football team Paris St Germain.

The Parc Des Princes was like a bear-pit inside, but lacked in asthetic beauty and resembled NCP car park from the outside.

The atmosphere in the ground was very hostile, unlike the sanitized Stade de France of today. 

The Wales time were roundly booed when they entered the fray, but the French saved their ire for the Gendarmerie brass band who were heckled so loudly that it was impossible to hear a note they played.

Having a ticket was somewhat superfluous , as every row of ten seats contained at least twenty people in situ, I had a burly Basque farmer on my lap for most of the first half, and in fact it was so cold, I was glad of the warmth.

He had a leather satchel draped around his neck filled with home-made Pyrenean brandy, which made him look like a Gallic St Bernard.

The bearded, beret clad St Bernard insisted every time Wales, or France, were awarded a penalty,that we both take a swig from his attachment, in the interests of Cymric/Gallic relations I felt it only polite to comply.

Wales were coming to the end of their golden era in 1979, JPR Williams was still around, and captained the team, and a new young star was emerging at scrum half in the shape of Terry Holmes.

For the record France won 14-13, with the scores at half time level at 7-7
Jean Francois Gourdon scored two tries for France, and Aguirre kicked two penalties.
For Wales, Terry Holmes scored a try, and Steve Fenwick kicked three penalties.

The wonderment of that first trip has gone, but the magic of Paris and a French home rugby international is something I never tire in experiencing .

We Welsh are an emotionally complicated people, prone to melancholy certainly, appearing to be perpetually sat on an emotional see-saw.

Roller coasters do not even come close to giving us the ride that following our national rugby team provide.

My great gran always had a hankie in hand to wipe away the tears from her eyes, tears created by sadness or laughter, there never seemed to be a halfway house of emotion.

Nothing embodies these characteristics more than being a Wales supporter.

There is a school of thought that being an All Blacks fan must be the most boring sporting role on earth, they hardly ever play badly and defeat is even more of a rarity.

There are some of us Welsh, who wouldn’t mind a few years of “boredom”

So why the melancholy ? Ok the weather doesn’t help, west maybe best, but sadly it also nearer the Atlantic, those beautiful green hills of Carmarthenshire don’t get to be that shade of green without the assistance of the weather systems brewed up in the bay of biscay.

At the moment a deep depression has settled in the west and has spread eastwards covering the whole country.

The long range forecast does not look promising, with the potential for a group of death even further east in 2019, at the rugby World Cup in Japan, although in the land of the rising sun maybe the weather will improve.

If Wales were caught between two stools in the autumn then they now find themselves caught between three stools, a kitchen table and a fridge freezer.

Young exciting rugby talents riddled with splinters, from sitting on the bench since last autumn, anxiously await a call up to national service, as many of the the old guard, both players and management, perform below par in an ever changing game in which Wales appear to be falling further and further behind.      

The 2017 six nations is lost, but there is an added ingredient this year, as the 2019 rugby World Cup draw is due to take place in May, based on team rankings at the the end of the tournament.

Wales are currently seventh in the world rugby rankings, and if they beat either Ireland or France in the coming weeks they will maintain that ranking.

If Wales lose both their remaining matches against Ireland and France, they will drop out of the top eight, and will get a tougher World Cup pool, with two top eight teams in their group, as happened in 2015.

By all accounts the Welsh camp is not a happy place, that Welsh melancholia has taken hold, there appears to be very little joy on the field, the fear of failure suffocating every move, every decision every waking moment.

As spectators and fans you feel for them, no Welsh team has worked harder or been braver.

For the next three weeks the pressure will be even greater to get that important win, but after that Wales really need to sort things out, sadly with Gatland and Howley on Lions duty, there will be a considerable delay in the much needed reformation.

So for the foreseeable future I suggest you hold on to your hankie.

One of the many joys of covering rugby in France is ordering an early morning coffee and croissant , whilst watching the world go by with a copy the sports daily, L’equipe.

The pleasure is even more enhanced on a Monday and a Friday thanks to that wonderful golden periodical MIDI Olympique.

To the uninitiated MIDI Olympique is a newspaper devoted solely to rugby, and is nicknamed “le Jaune” (the yellow) due to the colour of its pages.

In 1929,when it was first published, all sports newspapers were printed on coloured paper, and on September 2 of that year, when the first edition was published, the only colour available was yellow the pages of the paper have remained golden to this very day.

Now owned by the newspaper group La Depeche, Jean Jacques Pouch was the man who launched that first edition.

The fact that France was deprived of any international rugby, followed by the outbreak of war,made life difficult for a newspaper which was originally sold only in the Toulouse area.

The Monday edition carries a red nameplate, and Friday’s a green, hence they are known colloquially as le Rouge, and le vert.

MIDI Olympique was published on Mondays only until spring 2006, when a Friday issue arose .

Now one of the oldest weekly French newspapers in existence, the figures for 2005 stated that 140,000 copies were printed on Mondays and 120,000 on Fridays.

Midol’s in depth coverage is second to none and gives the French Womens international team a quality coverage that other countries can only dream of receiving.

So here’s to another cafe creme and happy reading.