In his first article of the New Year, Ralph Henderson, reviews 2020 and looks ahead to the future of the game.

"If Pask and Haydn Morgan

They'll show the Welsh selectors

Brinley Evans,"Arael",of the South Wales Gazette

WHEN Pontypool fly-half, Benny Jones, received a quick pass in his own 22, there was only one thought in his mind - to play "Russian Roulette" with the Abertillery defenders.

This was a local derby at Pontypool Park as a crowd of nine or 10 thousand watched their town's heroes in the early autumn sunshine at one of Welsh rugby's favourite amphitheatres. This was 1958 and my Uncle Arthur, who had played back row with the Abertillery legends, Lewis, Pask and Morgan, had taken me by bus to see my first senior match as a birthday present!

Caressing the ball in two hands, the Pontypool captain engaged in a "Pas de Deux" with John Griffiths as he side-stepped John Lewis before his peripheral vision revealed a host of defenders frantically trying to steer Jones to the touch line. As each would-be tackler approached the winger stayed a couple of yards behind in order to receive the perfect pass, but on five separate occasions, Benny Jones sold the perfect dummy as he engaged each adversary in a game of bluff.

He was the matador, outwitting everyone, but surely he would make the final pass to draw the full-back? But no, with a swivel of his hips, he accelerated under the posts! Regardless that he played for the rivals, at my first game, I had witnessed the most memorable try that I would never forget. I was hooked!

Benny Jones was never to play for Wales, but his Pontypool team won the Welsh Championship that season and he was shortlisted to the last 40 for the 1959 Lions' Tour of 1959. He continued playing for Pontypool United well into his forties and even played in the Welsh Sevens at the National Stadium at the age of 40. Sadly Benny Jones passed away in 2015, one of the greatest players never to play for his country.

This was no ordinary Abertillery team, as the previous season, the combined Abertillery Ebbw Vale team had famously won a monumental victory against Australia at Abertillery Park by six points to five!

Two penalties were kicked by brilliant full –back Brian Lewis (who later moved to Chelmsford and played scrum-half against Thurrock). The stars of the game were Alun Pask and Haydn Morgan, but neither was selected to play for Wales against the Wallabies, hence Brinley Evans' stanza! The Gazette followed with the headline "Wallabies Meet Their Waterloo!" (Thurrock club legend ,Jeff Selway , himself from Ebbw Vale, spent a pleasant evening in the company of the Australian tourists during the Lions' Tour of 2013).

The next landmark was watching the "Miners' Sevens" at Abertillery Park and seeing "guest" player, the 17 year old David Watkins with the amazing acceleration off the side-step destroying seasoned internationals.

He would go on to be the greatest fly- half of all time and such a lovely humble man. When I went to Abertillery Grammar School later that year, I sat next to Dawson Jones (later to play prop for Wales B) whose dad Bernard had played in the game against Australia, as had our teacher, Mervyn Davies! Little wonder that I was to embark on a lifelong love of the sport!

Football is often referred to as "The beautiful game", but for me there was nothing more beautiful than to be absorbed in the culture of rugby.

"Just when you thought 2020 couldn't get any worse, I have just watched two of the worst derbies I have ever seen! The teams lacked skill and ambition as well as being completely dominated by the referee! I hope this is not the end of the game we love?

People won't pay good money to watch this nonsense.

I always encouraged younger players to watch and learn from the professionals, but now I am beginning to challenge that advice. We need to give the younger players freedom to be innovative and express their talent.

Eddie Jones is right when he says trends in rugby tend to be cyclical - but he is wrong to label the current concerns of many as alarmist and silly.

This feels very different. The fundamental nature of the game is changing and many diehard rugby stalwarts I speak to are beginning to lose faith. "If their appetite is waning, I cannot imagine what new viewers are thinking" said Sir Clive Woodward

His comments is just one of the cornucopia emanating from viewing The Nations Cup and the fare offered by the Northern hemisphere over the past few months.

The local derbies were those in the Pro 14 where television audiences watched continuous inane kicking contests in empty, inanimate stadia with the landscape reminiscent of Dunkirk in1940 with the evacuees helplessly stranded under constant aerial bombardment, desperate for inspiration! Most of the players were in the middle third of the pitch, knowing that there would be a constant reciprocal salvo. Fine to develop kicking techniques for youngsters playing "gaining ground", but hardly the heroic stuff of gladiators !

With the growing fears concerning head injuries, Covid-related problems, financial impropriety and a host of other issues, it is not surprising that pessimism seems apparent in some quarters. Now,more than ever, rugby needs to "seize the day" and plan a successful future as Jonny Wilkinson planned a kick at goal; VISUALISE, PREPARE, EXECUTE !

"Out of the darkness came forth light and out of the strong came forth sweetness."

This quotation refers to the biblical story of Samson in the Book of Judges. Samson was travelling to the land of the Philistines in pursuit of a wife, when he fought and killed a lion. On his return journey, he passed the rotting carcass and noticed that an apiary of bees had settled in the remains and had formed a honeycomb. Samson later adapted this encounter into a riddle at a wedding: "Out of the eater came forth meat and out of the strong came forth sweetness."

Abram Lyle, a deeply religious man adopted this image of the rotting carcass of a lion and the slogan, "Out of the strong came forth sweetness", as the World's oldest branding and packaging label for Lyle's Golden Syrup.

Now, in the world of rugby, another famous brand, The British and Irish Lions, seems to be in need of transforming a "rotting carcass!" With the Lions' credibility already in jeopardy owing to a reluctance by club owners to release players and swinging reductions to the length of tours, the world pandemic is threatening the existence of this much loved brand which means so much to players and supporters throughout the World.

Fears over the viability of the three match series have intensified since the announcement that South Africa's vaccination programme is in disarray, with much of their stock being exported and leaving only a small minority with immunity. Without full stadia and the predicted 30-40,000 Lions' supporters, the tour looks doomed! Lions' Tours are a massive source of revenue keeping host unions afloat and providing a boost to the economies of South Africa, New Zealand and Australia.

Lions' Tours are a great tonic to all those who love the game, the ultimate in global friendship and bonhomie ;a feast of sporting endeavour and sociability as anyone who joined the mass throngs outside the Sydney Opera House before the third Test in 2013 or sang the refrain to "Oh Mark Itoje " outside the Welsh Pub(formerly the Public Toilet) after the famous victory in the Wellington Test in 2017 will testify!

Who can forget the safaris or the iconic trips to Rorke's Drift or even the coconut falling on Boots' head? You don't need Max Boyce to recall those epic events.

They are indelibly etched in the memory and probably one of the few occasions when we are the United Kingdom! And so it was with great sadness that I read last week's statement from the Lions' Managing Director, Ben Calveley: "Given the uncertainty that continues to be caused by the pandemic both in South Africa, as well as the UK and Ireland, we are very aware of the need to make a timely decision on the best way forward; not least so we can provide clarity to supporters booked to travel to South Africa next summer, or those thinking of making the trip.

To date, the Lions board has had meetings to discuss all scenarios available and is in constant dialogue - to review all relevant information and data."

Not much there then to inspire optimism amongst the faithful or those relishing the trip of a lifetime!

Traditionally, at this time of year, we remember the Roman god, Janus, from whom we have gained the name for the first month of the year. Janus is usually depicted as having two heads; one looking back over the old year and one looking forward to the year ahead.

In mythology, he was the god of transitions and new beginnings. He presided over passageways, doors, gates, endings and scrums, as well as periods of transition such as from war to peace and vice-versa .He held the key to the metaphorical gateways and doors between what was and what was to come.

There are many who would love to be able to consort with the gatekeeper, Janus as we speculate over the progression to the post-pandemic era, but what an opportunity to learn the lessons of the past and fashion a brave new world !

Using Janus's rearwards head, ,it is clear that in these strangest and most worrying of times, a shadow has been cast across the world. Life has changed and, for many, it will never be the same again. We have all lost someone who is near and dear to us.