The Six Nations in the North

All of the under twenty - Six Nations home Welsh Rugby international games this year and next, will be played at the new Eirias Park stadium in Colwyn Bay. I would like to urge all supporters of the oval ball in the North to try to attend one or more of these matches.

Attending an international match in Cardiff given the cost of transport, ticket and accommodation is way beyond many of us! For only Five Quid we can support Wales on Eirias Park in Six Nations Internationals!

OK – it's just the under 20's –but many of those from Wales and the opposing teams will be the stars of rugby's future and you can boast I was there when the heir to Barry John played his very first game for Wales - etc

More importantly, a good show of support may keep these games in Colwyn Bay beyond 2013, and may also prove to some of the southern-centric members of the WRU, that supporting and developing Rugby in the North will be beneficial for all of Welsh Rugby.

Tickets are available from Conwy Council, Venue Cymru and most Tesco stores in the north of Wales

South Africa 17 - Wales 16

Any mediocre team can beat an opposing 15.

A good team must be able to beat the opposing fifteen, a bad referee, the wind, the rain and Lady Luck!

Wales failed and was less than mediocre. There are no excuses!

Yes! For Rugby

Despite the best efforts of Yes for Wales and Untrue Lies there doesn't seem much enthusiasm about debating the pros and cons of moving to part four of the Government of Wales Act (2006).

There is however one question that can always guarantee to raise Welsh passions and to divide our nation into two separate camps: What is the National Game of Wales – Rugby or Football?

By being led by the Chief Executive of the WRU and by its excessive use of rugby images is Yes for Wales in danger of scoring an own goal by alienating those who would vote Football in a vote that really mattered?

O Dear! Mr Johnston

England Rugby boss Martin Johnston should be aware that some of those viewing games on the tv can lip-read. Although his abusive remarks about his own team were not audible, they were very clearly mouthed. Lip reading foul mouthed obscenities is just as objectionable on Saturday afternoon television as is hearing it!

Dwynwen - Wales' Secret Weapon

Rugby fans have a big dilemma. The biggest match of all, Wales v England, is to be played on St Valentine's Day. Do you woo your loved one, take her out for a romantic meal and then enjoy an evening of loving passion together - or do you watch the match and go out for a rugby p fest with your mates?

Hard choice and a dilemma indeed!

However Wales has a secret weapon that enables Welsh supporters to overcome this dilemma - St Dwynwen.

Tomorrow is St Dywnwen's Day! St Dwynwen is the patron saint of Welsh Lovers, a saint who is the equal to, if not better, than Saint Valentine.

So woo your lover tomorrow, buy her chocolates and flowers - take her out for a romantic meal, show her passion and love - persuade her that Valentine is not for us, that good Welsh people do it for St Dwynwen! And then you will be free and guiltless on Saint Valentine's day and be able to direct all your passion towards encouraging Wales to beat England!

But on Feb 14th the English fans and players, poor dabs, will still be worried about the rolling pin and the bollocking for putting Rugby before love!

If all Welsh fans celebrate St Dwynwen tomorrow, so that we don't have to worry about St Valentine in three weeks time, it could give us a five point lead before the starting whistle is blown!

So, tomorrow, make love for St Dwynwen - Wales' Secret Weapon!

England or South Africa?

I am not very interested in sports. I have never quite understood the significance of the fact that my country is better than your country because a dozen or so of my compatriots can kick, throw, head or bat a ball better than a dozen or so of your compatriots.

Having said that I am aware of how politically significant 1966 was. 1966 was important not just because England won the football World Cup, but that it was won by beating Germany. It was the real end of the two world wars. Had England won in 66 by beating France, Brazil, Sweden or Argentina, it wouldn't have been half as significant an event as beating Germany was.

Every England supporter over the age of 21 had been born during or before the war. They had known the feeling that England had won the wars in theory but had lost out in practice. 1966 proved that England WAS better than Germany.

1966 was also important because it showed that England was a nation and not an euphemism for Britain as had been the case before. England beat the Fritz, alone in 66, without the help of Scotland, Wales or the Irish Unionists.

England won the rugby World Cup in 2003. England has probably more than a 50/50 chance of being the first country to win the cup twice in a row, but even two rugby World Cups wont add up to the significance of 1966.

But yet the thought that England might win is enough to send some of my sport loving acquaintances into fits of apoplexy - including those who claim to consider themselves to be more British than Welsh, they will be shouting for South Africa on Saturday rather than our neighbours who share this island with us. Why?

Gwe, Ceredig and Normal have written about British / Welsh identity recently and have all claimed that a dual identity is possible. Can they explain how this dual Welsh / British identity can also be so anti English?

I have little interest in the outcomes of sporting events, but as a quarter of my ancestry is English and none is South African, I wish England all the best for Saturday.

Which team will other Welsh bloggers support: England or South Africa? Let me know who and why in the comments