The nine circles of hell, as depicted in Dante’s Inferno, represent a gradual descent into increasing levels of sin and punishment—from the first circle, Limbo, to the ninth circle, which is reserved for the worst sinners. Each level represents various types of wrongdoing and the corresponding punishment.

If there were a rugby equivalent (perhaps we could call it Jonathan Danty’s nine circles of rugby hell) then Wales would have felt like they were entering the ninth circle on Friday night facing a French team led by Antoine Dupont whilst being on the crest of a slump with twelve consecutive defeats under their belts.

Welsh rugby and its administrators have been regular visitors to all nine circles over the last few years and show no signs of leaving the vicinity anytime soon.

In The Divine Comedy, Dante, (as opposed to Danty), passes through the gates of Hell, which bear the inscription ‘Abandon all hope, ye who enter here’, the Stade de France felt a bit like that for Wales last night, as they began their 2025 Guinness Six Nations campaign.

France home internationals are gradually starting later and later, this one had edged out to a 9.15pm kick off, a time when this aged rugby writer is usually making his final preparations for bed time. But this is Paris, and if New York is the city that never sleeps, then the French capital is the city that will grab a quick cat nap, down a few espressos and just keep going.

The boys in blue find the nocturnal battles to their liking although to be fair it would be stretching the imagination to call this one sided match a battle.

Wales held out for the opening seventeen minutes before the French wingers took flight, the French crowd were less prudent and the first Mexican wave arrived after only five minutes.

A 28-0 half time lead allowed France the luxury of sparing their main men with Antoine Dupont replaced on 49 minutes followed by a raft of other changes with Twickenham in mind.

Wales struggled to cross the gain line often kicked aimlessly and showed no penetration or ingenuity in attack they are a pretty depressing watch at the moment.

France’s only concern after their 43-0 victory was the red card given to Romain Ntamack, he will be a big loss in the tougher games that lie ahead.

So Wales eternal quest for a victory continues and the next opportunity to halt the descent comes in seven days time ironically in Dante’s home-Italy.

Paris may be the city of lights but here in the early hours of a chilly Saturday morning there is nothing but darkness for Wales.

Read Gareth Edwards and Antoine Dupont’s stories in my new book Behind Enemy Nines available from Amazon via the link below for just £5.99 post free. kindle version only £2.99.

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They gathered in Rome last Tuesday for the official launch of the 2025 Guinness Six Nations, and as the captains and coaches gathered in the Colosseum for the official photoshoot, the setting could not have been more appropriate.

The gladiatorial nature of rugby these days is given the thumbs up or the thumbs down depending on how you like to see the game played, but there is no doubting the size and strength of the athletes on show over the next few months, as winter turns to spring with the backdrop of this wonderful tournament to entertain and excite us.

It is twenty-five years since five became six, and Italy joined the fun to create a Six Nations tournament, so it was appropriate that the Azzuri were the hosts of a launch that featured opera singers and a catwalk. La dolce vita could not have been more evident.

So what will this year’s tournament bring ? For the 2019 winners Wales, they hope and pray for a win, a win of any kind, against any team, any way, and any how, an extremely limited ambition, but one which emphasises the state of the game in my home country.

Italy, who once had a hold on the single win desire, have moved on, their aspirations are now much greater, and they are looking to compete with greater optimism that is justifiable after some of their performances over the last two seasons.

Reigning champions Ireland are aiming for a third title in a row something that has never been achieved in Six Nations history.

The match in Dublin against France on 8 March already has the makings of a championship showdown.

For Scotland and their golden generation, is this the year it all comes together ? Losing Captain Sione Tuipoloti for the entire tournament is a huge loss, but any team that has Finn Russell pulling the strings is always in with a shout.

England have such depth and talent it seems incredible witnessing the lack of success they have achieved, but if they can put together for eighty minutes the cameos they performed against the All Blacks and the Springboks in the Autumn, who knows what they could achieve.

They open their campaign against Ireland in Dublin, with plenty of injury concerns, as tough a start as you could possibly imagine.

And finally France, they are a joy to watch, and with Antoine Dupont back as scrum half and Captain it would be no surprise if they were to go all the way. They have to go to Twickeham and Dublin, but a squad filled with Stade Toulousain and Union Bordeaux Bégles players can surely negotiate those tricky hurdles.

So, let the games begin. Whether you are watching from the stadium, the pub, the rugby club or the sofa, I hope your Six Nations is filled with moments that last a lifetime, and may the memories of past encounters with friends and family, many of whom are no longer with us, light up those very special dark winter weekends.

My new book Behind Enemy Nines is now available from Amazon via this link. Paperback £5.99 Kindle Edition £2.99

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France’s Top 14 rugby’s wealthy relative has had its somewhat secretive financial arrangements revealed due to the recent debates across the channel into the clubs adherence to payroll regulations.

A forty-five page document relating to a study carried out by the audit firm Nexia S&A provided an inventory of the salaries of the Top 14 players.

The average salary last year for the 520 professional players was €259,000 gross, just over €21,000 per month. That’s five times more than in Pro D2 or 33% higher than that of the Gallagher Premiership.

There are approximately ten players receiving salaries in and around €600,000 per annum including Owen Farrell of Racing 92, Toulouse scrum half Antoine Dupont, La Rochelle’s duo Rochelais Grégory Alldritt and Will Skelton plus Bordeaux’s Matthieu Jalibert.

Away from the mega earners 27% of Top 14 players received less than €60,000 gross per year. The average squad of the Top 14 clubs was composed of fifty-five players, thirty-three of which declare a gross salary of more than €480,000, or €40,000 per month. These are inevitably the stars of the championship and, in the vast majority French internationals players.

As for club budgets the figures below are eye watering if you happen to live on this side of La Manche.

Toulouse 49.3 million Euros

Stade Francais 45 million

Toulon 39.6 million

Lyon 37 million

La Rochelle 35 million

Clermont 34 million

Bordeaux 33 million

Racing 92 32.1 million

Montpellier 30.4 million

Pau 28 million

Bayonne 27 million

Castres 24.7 million

Perpignan 22 million

Vannes 21 million

Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

For those of us who love or even just care about Welsh rugby, our dreams are not only being trodden on they are being rained down on by the contents of a metaphorical seagull suffering from gastroenteritis.

The incoming co-head of the United States Department of Government Efficiency Elon Musk allowed me to launch the following message on his X platform a few weeks ago.

“Breaking News, The WRU have stated that a review of all the reviews is being undertaken. The reviewers who review the review will present a view of the review of all the reviews after it has been viewed by the WRU”

The incredible response I had shows just how much and how many people still care deeply and passionately about Welsh rugby, and almost all voiced their concern about the governing body whose communication output makes a Trappist monk appear verbose.

So here we are a week after Wales final Autumn Series International and guess what, there’s another review on the way. 

A review of the November programme will be led by, yes you guessed it, Welsh Rugby Union chief executive Abi Tierney who says it will be completed before Christmas, although whether the turkey’s will vote for Christmas is a moot point.

A completed ‘One Wales’ strategy designed to give Welsh rugby a definitive five-year plan due in June has been delayed yet again as the WRU and regions continue to negotiate a fresh financial deal.

These reviews are stacking up in greater number than Welsh defeats and are just as painful and demoralising to witness

Meanwhile, the task of capturing young hearts and minds is a woeful afterthought in all the turmoil. 

As Welsh international football enjoys success, it often appears that there is a mindset with the powers that be that there is somehow a divine right that rugby will always be the national sport of Wales.

This will not happen at international level without some serious emphasis on grasping social media output which at the moment is pretty woeful.

Innovative fresh and bold initiatives need to be explored, it is 2024 not 1971 after all.

A visit to Cardiff City Stadium for the round ball game is a cheaper more atmospheric experience with a family friendly vibe uninterrupted by people continually getting up and down from their seats collecting beer. The National Anthem is sung much better.

We need a dynamic, exciting programme to entice youngsters to capture hearts and minds keep them enthused, involved and valued, but I expect we will need another review led by the governing body before that happens.

Gwlad! Gwlad! Pleidiol wyf i’m gwlad.

John Keats described Autumn as;

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;

In the Autumn Nations Series, Wales have been the lonely Banana left stranded in the fruit bowl, slowly turning black and looking more and more unappetising as the days go by.

Yesterday that banana was finally put out of its misery and thrown in the bin, and along with it the hopes and dreams of a proud rugby nation.

This was Wales twelfth defeat in a row and creates the damning and embarrassing statistic that they have gone an entire calendar year without a win, a feat, if you can call it that, last suffered in 1937.

There was a time when attending a rugby international in November necessitated the acquisition of gloves, scarves, hats, and even a hip flask to keep out the bitter cold.

These days, as the seasons all blend into one and the climate becomes as unreliable as the Welsh line out, some Autumn days are actually warmer than those we endured during a miserable summer.

However, yesterday, Storm Bert was in town and decided to hit Cardiff like a Damian De Allende tackle.

The rain fell from the heavens some say it was the tears of JPR, Barry, JJ and Grav, luckily the closed roof obscured their view of Welsh rugby at its lowest point in the professional era.

Just six days after being trampled and caught on the hop (forgive the pun) by the Wallabies, it was the turn of the antelope fraternity to pick over the Welsh rugby carcass.

The Springboks are a team for all seasons and all conditions. The apparent simplicity of their game would, you imagine, be equally simple to negate. But they do it so well, and with such power and physicality, whilst also continuing to provide more add-ons than even my O2 mobile phone contract can offer.

Before kick off, the only thing that appeared in doubt was the margin of victory for the visitors. The was even talk of Wales 96-18 defeat in 1998 being bettered.

The 45-12 score line does not make great reading and with the Springboks leading 26-5 at half-time the prospect of a second half avalanche looked ominous.

But what wales lacked in precision accuracy and physicality, they made up for in calon (heart) effort and sheer bravery.

Straw clutching may well have become a Welsh national pastime but to limit this Boks team to 19 second half points was a creditable effort.

Sadly, as Autumn turns to winter the problems throughout welsh rugby continue, and we still await a plan from the WRU, plus ça change as we say in West Wales

On dark winter evenings, the flat landscape of Saint-Denis can feel like Siberia. Last night, the icy winds whipped around Avenue Jules Rimet and Rue Henri Delaunay like a gaucho’s boleadora.

Icy sleet and snow had permeated the capital in the lead up, making the brightly lit cafés and bistros look a much more inviting proposition than a cavernous, bitterly cold stadium.

Stade de France hosted Les Bleus final international of 2024 against Argentina. A team that ruined their home 2007 Rugby World Cup campaign, beating them twice on their own patch, once in the pool stages and again in the third place play off.

It was another late one in the Northern suburbs of Paris, with the customary post 9pm kick off ensuring that the temperatures plummeted even further.

Pumas in the wild can run at speeds of fifty miles per hour, but the two legged variety were no match for France’s flying winger Louis Bielle-Biarrey and Gabin Villiere.

Back when I was young we had a definition of outrageous speed that referred to excrement and a shovel the boys from Bordeaux and Toulon encapsulated that definition perfectly, each scoring a try that warmed the cold Parisian night.

France went into an early lead thanks to a Thibaud Flament try in the ninth minute. Thomas Ramos and Tomás Albornoz exchanged a few penalties before the Toulon Tornado, Gabin Villiere’s 33rd minute try. A penalty try followed three minutes later, followed by another Ramos penalty to give France a 30-9 half-time lead.

France we’re home and hosed but a 57th minute try from Thomas Gallo brought the score back to 30-16 and Argentina sucked in some hope, but Louis Bielle-Biarrey flew in for a try in the 58th minute to execute the coup de grâce.

Ignacio Ruiz 70th minute try was a mere consolation for the Pumas, who were inaccurate and disjointed throughout and hampered by two yellow cards.

Autumn in the French capital is normally a relaxed tranquil time to stroll the boulevards, as the leaves begin to fall, the colours add an extra dimension to this already beautiful city.

This year things are different, there are signs that the bright red, orange and brown flora has a new kid on the block joining them, the black fern.

Blowing up from the south, the black fern threatened to spoil the native tranquillity and put the residents in the shade.

France however had no intention of turning over a new leaf, but rather to continue with the power, beauty, and brilliance that has served them so well over recent years.

Yesterday morning the city was covered in a chilly clawing blanket of fog and as the mists floated eerily above the Seine it was a timely reminder that Winter is just a side step away.

New Zealand arrived at the Stade de France with impressive victories against England and Ireland under their belt, not bad for a side in transition.

The last time these two teams met was in the opening match of the 2023 Rugby World on 8 September 2023. There were thirteen survivors from that home win (27-13). Seven in the All Blacks starting line up and six in Les Bleus.

82,000 fell silent as they were plunged into darkness to witness a spine tingling Haka with just a single spotlight shining solely on the All Blacks. It set the scene beautifully for a brutal first half, in which the New Zealand scrum shoved the French eight back almost as far as the Gare du Nord.

Tries for the white shirted All Blacks from early replacement Peter Lakai and scrum-half Cam Roigard took New Zealand into an early lead. New boy Romain Buros cut a line that D’Artagnan would have proud of to score a 36th minute try on his international debut.

The All Blacks led 17-10 at half-time and were more than worthy of their lead.

France came out all guns blazing after a gentle chat from Shaun Edwards after just four minutes of the restart Paul Boudehent crashed over from a driving maul, Ramos converted, and it was all square at 17-17.

Seven minutes later, Louis Bielle-Biarrey broke the land speed record chasing a kick ahead to touch down. As the smoke cleared from his boots, Ramos popped over the conversion and France led 24-17 and there was daylight between the two team in the Parisian darkness.

On the 67th minute it was time for musical chairs as only the French can perform it. Dupont moved to fly half, Ramos to full back, Le Garrec came on as scrum-half and Mauvaka moved from hooker to the back row.

Penalties were exchanged between replacement All Black fly half Damian McKenzie and the faultless Frenchman Thomas Ramos and with five minutes remaining France led 30-29 it was squeaky derrière time but Les Bleus held on for victory in a pulsating match.

As Saturday night drifted into Sunday morning, the crowd raced Bielle-Biarrey style to catch the last metro, Le jour de gloire est arrivé.

Mike Pearce is the Author of The Bleus Brothers available from Amazon £7.99 post free. https://amzn.eu/d/6H8pN8D

Paris in November a time when the city of lights is illuminated that little bit longer as the days shorten and the evenings lengthen.

The brightly lit cafés and restaurants give off an enticing warm glow that call you like the sirens in Greek mythology who lured sailors to destruction by the sweetness of their song.

But this is business, the start of France’s Autumn international campaign and the French capital welcomes the rugby men from the land of the rising scrum.

On 25 November 2017 at the U Arena in Paris, with 74 mins on the clock and the scores tied 23-23, Yu Tamara lined up a simple conversion that would have given Japan victory.

Had the kick been successful, it would have given Japan their first ever win over France. The drawn game was a creditable result for the Cherry Blossoms, but a golden opportunity to make history was well and truly blown.

It was a result and a performance that drew an avalanche of jeers on the final whistle from the frustrated home fans. France won just three of their 11 tests in 2017 and this was the final game of their Annus horribilis.

Eight years later and the French phoenix that has risen stratospherically from those ashes is unrecognisable in thought, word, and deed from that depressing night in Nanterre.

Last night at Stade de France in one of those 9pm kick-offs that makes time for one of France’s other great passions-Dinner, the Cherry Blossoms found Autumn defoliation a painful process.

The 80,000 crowd were treated to a demolition job by the boys in blue. Defeat was never on the cards as eight try France blew away a Japanese side that came to life in the second half, but it was never going to be enough against the pace and power of the French.

An astonished fever pitch crowd witnessed the unthinkable after just third four seconds, a mistake from Antoine Dupont and an event seen as infrequently as Halley’s Comet. The number nine had his clearance kick charged down and Japan were inches away from the most amazing start.

But two tries in the opening ten minutes from Bielle-Biarrey and Gailleton set the platform. Despite elements of rustiness, further first half tries from Roumat, Mauvaka, and another from Belle-Biarrey provided the rugby equivalent of WD40 to give France a 31-0 half-time lead.

Les Bleus started the second half brightly with a try from Gros before Paul Boudehent grabbed a brace.

Japan got on the scoreboard in the 50th and 61st minute with tries from Tatekawa and Tatafu.

A 52-12 final score was a fair reflection of the game, and France will be delighted with the run out as a sterner test looms next week against the All Blacks.

The Cherry Blossoms have been scattered by the high-powered French leaf blower now it’s time to sweep away the Black Ferns it’s an exciting time in the French capital.

20 minute red cards, clocks counting down scrums, line outs, penalty kicks and conversions and referees talking to the crowd, welcome to international rugby 2024 style.

Amidst the plethora of law trials, one thing that hasn’t changed is the excitement and anticipation of England and New Zealand going head-to-head in front of a capacity crowd at a place they used to call Twickenham.

The London branch of the Allianz Stadium (as opposed to the Sydney and Turin branches) played host to one of the great rivalries in sport yesterday in a match launched the 2024 Autumn Nations Series.

On a muggy misty day with Joe Marler’s motivational team talk ringing in their ears post Haka the All Blacks indiscipline and England scrum dominance kept them in the hunt in a first half where the All Blacks scored two tries through Mark Tele’a and a gliding seemingly effortless run from Will Jordan, but the beauty was negated by the beastly metronomic boot of Marcus Smith who kicked four out of four penalties to put England within two points of their rivals at half-time.

Four minutes into the second half with the All Blacks attacking, a three to two overlap was intercepted by Marcus Smith who ran the length of the field before feeding Furbank. He passed immediately left to Feyi-Waboso to score a try. The 81,910 present greeted with a defeaning roar. Smith’s conversion gave England the lead. Another penalty on the 59-minute mark extended that lead to 22-14.

The All Blacks were looking very ordinary in the face of England’s suffocating defence. Their attack was littered with one up carries, and it was difficult to see anything other than an England win.

But the raft of substitutions that are part of the modern game had an effect on both teams. For England, they lost momentum and scrum domination and for the All Blacks the introduction of Damian McKenzie and the sharper scrum-half Cam Roigard put a spring in their step.

A McKenzie penalty with thirteen minutes remaining brought the score to 22-17, and even this clunky, inaccurate All Blacks side could smell English blood.

Sure enough with five minutes remaining Mark Tele’a, the man who could side step you in a telephone box, went over in the corner for his second try of the game (22-22). Beauden Barrett’s miraculous touchline conversion made it 24-22 to New Zealand.

A George Ford penalty hit the post and his attempted drop goal drifted wide during a fever pitch final few minutes, as the All Blacks clung on to a victory, but for England it was a case of déjà vu and another narrow defeat to add to the back catalogue.