Cymro Awdur / Author 'Welsh Rugby: What Went Wrong' a 'Deffro'r Ddraig: Rygbi Cymru 1995-2024' Mas nawr / Out now ar https://www.ylolfa.com/authors/46720593/seimon-williams https://amzn.eu/d/eh1qFdl Blog: gwladrugby.cymruhttps://bsky.app/profile/seiwilliams.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/seiwilliams.bsky.social/post/3mzfrpnww6s2tFurther Australian adventures of a 52 year old. Went snorkelling and given 3 options on the organisers' "not our fault guv" form: Under 12, normal*, over 50. We're in the vulnerable group! Then had to show ID to get into a bar. This is a silly place. * not phrased quite that way, but close.03 Nov 2026 11:54 +0000at://did:plc:ph2mpjgit7v3drzn7c4u2yyh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mzfrpnww6s2thttps://bsky.app/profile/seiwilliams.bsky.social/post/3mzdb4wlivk2lI've come all the way to Australia, and the suffocating tentacles of Irish rugby blazerdom remain all-enveloping. At least they had the decency to stick the D4 sign above the toilets, I suppose.02 Nov 2026 11:51 +0000at://did:plc:ph2mpjgit7v3drzn7c4u2yyh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mzdb4wlivk2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/seiwilliams.bsky.social/post/3mzd6r3xatc2lYou come all the way to Australia, and the first pub your backpacking son takes you to hammers home the omnipotence of Irish blazerdom. Not just ANOther identikit Irish bar. A D4 Irish bar. Reassuring they stuck the sign over the bogs, though.02 Nov 2026 11:09 +0000at://did:plc:ph2mpjgit7v3drzn7c4u2yyh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mzd6r3xatc2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/seiwilliams.bsky.social/post/3myqoyt2ppc2h"The job of the WRU is to strengthen the game. But it is fatally wounding it. And we are sick of it". Nathaniel Hale for Gwladrugby. https://gwladrugby.wordpress.com/2026/10/26/what-cost-the-gravitational-pull-of-mediocrity-18-million/26 Oct 2026 02:39 +0000at://did:plc:ph2mpjgit7v3drzn7c4u2yyh/app.bsky.feed.post/3myqoyt2ppc2hhttps://bsky.app/profile/seiwilliams.bsky.social/post/3my64pxojjs23It's 'cats and dogging' in Northampton, apparently. Come on, people. It's pre-watershed. Let's have some decorum here.18 Oct 2026 17:24 +0000at://did:plc:ph2mpjgit7v3drzn7c4u2yyh/app.bsky.feed.post/3my64pxojjs23https://bsky.app/profile/seiwilliams.bsky.social/post/3my64aw2zks2dRemarkably, the WRU have again scoured the globe - this time with the help of external recruitment consultants - in their hunt for a new PRB chair and have again, to everybody's surprise, come to the conclusion that the best candidate is already doing the job. https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/wru-set-appoint-familiar-face-3478229218 Oct 2026 17:16 +0000at://did:plc:ph2mpjgit7v3drzn7c4u2yyh/app.bsky.feed.post/3my64aw2zks2dhttps://bsky.app/profile/seiwilliams.bsky.social/post/3my37r5vsok2cFresh from seeing Tameifuna deployed in the second row last night, we now have Sale seemingly set on redefining the front row.17 Oct 2026 13:40 +0000at://did:plc:ph2mpjgit7v3drzn7c4u2yyh/app.bsky.feed.post/3my37r5vsok2chttps://bsky.app/profile/seiwilliams.bsky.social/post/3mxzh7ixot227I guess that was close to a perfect example of NuRugby2026 and an antidote to its weakness for 78-67 froth. Felt like a proper Heineken (ok, Champions) Cup match. Hard fought. Defences working hard. Long spells of probing kicking. A million points scored regardless. Bravo Gloucester & Bordeaux.16 Oct 2026 20:48 +0000at://did:plc:ph2mpjgit7v3drzn7c4u2yyh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mxzh7ixot227https://bsky.app/profile/seiwilliams.bsky.social/post/3mxzdiocxos24JAC AGAIN!! My word. He's brilliant. And building such an aura that he's becoming almost as invisible to referees as peak Richie McCaw.16 Oct 2026 19:42 +0000at://did:plc:ph2mpjgit7v3drzn7c4u2yyh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mxzdiocxos24https://bsky.app/profile/seiwilliams.bsky.social/post/3mxzcnk7mac2uQuite admiring of Miles Harrison's commitment, approximately 35 years into a commentary career which has taken in both Max Llewellyn and his 92-cap dad Gareth, to not even pretending to attempt the "Ll" sound in Llewellyn.16 Oct 2026 19:27 +0000at://did:plc:ph2mpjgit7v3drzn7c4u2yyh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mxzcnk7mac2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/seiwilliams.bsky.social/post/3mxzc7d3ii22cWhatever else, a scrum featuring three Welsh players - only two of them likely starters this season - shoving the Bordeaux scrum all over Kingsholm has got to be a bit of confidence boost for them. And us.16 Oct 2026 19:19 +0000at://did:plc:ph2mpjgit7v3drzn7c4u2yyh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mxzc7d3ii22chttps://bsky.app/profile/seiwilliams.bsky.social/post/3mxzbl4p6zc2cHang on. Lucu at 10? Tameifuna in the second row? What's going on?16 Oct 2026 19:08 +0000at://did:plc:ph2mpjgit7v3drzn7c4u2yyh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mxzbl4p6zc2chttps://bsky.app/profile/seiwilliams.bsky.social/post/3mxo5j6tqlc2nThat's going to take some turn. [contains quote post or other embedded content]12 Oct 2026 08:56 +0000at://did:plc:ph2mpjgit7v3drzn7c4u2yyh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mxo5j6tqlc2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/seiwilliams.bsky.social/post/3mxo4uaxask2g"But incompetence still matters in other ways. It matters for the choice of which clubs survive. It matters for legitimacy. And it matters for the legal route. A policy executed this badly can still be undone by its own paperwork". On the case for 3 clubs. https://gwladrugby.wordpress.com/2026/10/11/build-it-and-they-will-come-if-somebody-remembers-to-tell-them-where-it-is/12 Oct 2026 08:44 +0000at://did:plc:ph2mpjgit7v3drzn7c4u2yyh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mxo4uaxask2ghttps://bsky.app/profile/seiwilliams.bsky.social/post/3mxmqml5rqk2u"But incompetence still matters in other ways. It matters for the choice of which clubs survive. It matters for legitimacy. And it matters for the legal route. A policy executed this badly can still be undone by its own paperwork". https://gwladrugby.wordpress.com/2026/10/11/build-it-and-they-will-come-if-somebody-remembers-to-tell-them-where-it-is/11 Oct 2026 19:32 +0000at://did:plc:ph2mpjgit7v3drzn7c4u2yyh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mxmqml5rqk2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/seiwilliams.bsky.social/post/3mxk5mzpsac2wBernard Herrmann's score to "Psycho" is an unusual choice to soundtrack Leinster's RDS re-opening.10 Oct 2026 18:47 +0000at://did:plc:ph2mpjgit7v3drzn7c4u2yyh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mxk5mzpsac2whttps://bsky.app/profile/seiwilliams.bsky.social/post/3mxk5l5ul4s2wBernard Herrmann's score to "Psycho" is an unusual choice to soundtrack Leinster's RDS re-opening.10 Oct 2026 18:46 +0000at://did:plc:ph2mpjgit7v3drzn7c4u2yyh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mxk5l5ul4s2whttps://bsky.app/profile/seiwilliams.bsky.social/post/3mxjym7lnjc2wWatching the Scarlets this season feels a lot like watching Wales at Twickenham in February. If it can go wrong, it will. Wales gradually improved, I suppose.10 Oct 2026 17:17 +0000at://did:plc:ph2mpjgit7v3drzn7c4u2yyh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mxjym7lnjc2whttps://bsky.app/profile/seiwilliams.bsky.social/post/3mxhsozrexc2o"A pwy sydd nol 'na i achub y dydd? ... ... ... Aneurin Bevan... Owen! Aneurin Owen!"09 Oct 2026 20:26 +0000at://did:plc:ph2mpjgit7v3drzn7c4u2yyh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mxhsozrexc2ohttps://bsky.app/profile/seiwilliams.bsky.social/post/3mxhre5tep22oI'm flicking back and forth between the Dragons-Ospreys and Leicester-Gloucester games. And, while I enjoy a maul try as much as the next person, it's possible to have too much of a good thing, isn't it?09 Oct 2026 20:02 +0000at://did:plc:ph2mpjgit7v3drzn7c4u2yyh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mxhre5tep22ohttps://bsky.app/profile/seiwilliams.bsky.social/post/3mxhdmffguk2iFor those interested in the details of the Keystone report for the WRU, it's published on the WRU's new microsite: https://a.storyblok.com/f/295241914817601/x/c1da17a298/keystone-assessment-of-the-geographic-distribution-of-licences-july-2026.pdf09 Oct 2026 15:56 +0000at://did:plc:ph2mpjgit7v3drzn7c4u2yyh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mxhdmffguk2ihttps://bsky.app/profile/seiwilliams.bsky.social/post/3mxhcqwujlk2iSeriously, though. The argument against the WRU publishing everything was always so that idiots like me couldn't just rip into it all to point out various, ultimately usually quite frivolous, errors and omissions. Dave's 90-page August 2025 disaster has a lot to answer for.09 Oct 2026 15:41 +0000at://did:plc:ph2mpjgit7v3drzn7c4u2yyh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mxhcqwujlk2ihttps://bsky.app/profile/seiwilliams.bsky.social/post/3mxhba7ovv22nThat the WRU have today announced that they published, at 4pm today, a microsite packed with evidence for its decision to move to 3 clubs, and then: a) forgot to add a link to the English site b) added the link to the Welsh text but require a password to see it ...is very on the nose.09 Oct 2026 15:14 +0000at://did:plc:ph2mpjgit7v3drzn7c4u2yyh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mxhba7ovv22nhttps://bsky.app/profile/seiwilliams.bsky.social/post/3mxgmyluxbc2b"The WRU’s larger failure is not that it occasionally misses a player. It is that it keeps asking why players leave while making the proposition of staying less secure". Nathaniel Hale for Gwladrugby. https://gwladrugby.wordpress.com/2026/10/09/how-to-build-a-world-class-system-in-chasing-our-own-talent-away/09 Oct 2026 09:11 +0000at://did:plc:ph2mpjgit7v3drzn7c4u2yyh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mxgmyluxbc2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/seiwilliams.bsky.social/post/3mweqovixb224Poundshop Adam Jones.25 Sep 2026 21:47 +0000at://did:plc:ph2mpjgit7v3drzn7c4u2yyh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mweqovixb224https://bsky.app/profile/seiwilliams.bsky.social/post/3mwdymmzr6c22I don't know what's going on in front of the pavilion at Sophia Gardens on the left, here.. Mini tornado? Teleporting station?25 Sep 2026 14:36 +0000at://did:plc:ph2mpjgit7v3drzn7c4u2yyh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mwdymmzr6c22https://bsky.app/profile/seiwilliams.bsky.social/post/3mwaymzvabc2mSo, the Prime Minister thinks it would be a good idea to allow football fans to drink at their seats. Here - from a Gwladrugby piece of a few years ago - is a warning from Welsh rugby. This is what it's like when fans can drink in their seats. https://gwladrugby.wordpress.com/2020/02/24/the-principality-stadium-experience/24 Sep 2026 09:58 +0000at://did:plc:ph2mpjgit7v3drzn7c4u2yyh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mwaymzvabc2mhttps://bsky.app/profile/seiwilliams.bsky.social/post/3mw3vv5qhic2zSo, all the party leaders in the Senedd are now gogs, then?22 Sep 2026 09:26 +0000at://did:plc:ph2mpjgit7v3drzn7c4u2yyh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mw3vv5qhic2zhttps://bsky.app/profile/seiwilliams.bsky.social/post/3mvsygsly5k2fThoroughly enjoying Cat Heledd's absolute commitment throughout this game to insisting that she's in a studio when we can all see her standing on the pitch at CAP. Your foot's on the actual touchline Cat.18 Sep 2026 20:18 +0000at://did:plc:ph2mpjgit7v3drzn7c4u2yyh/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvsygsly5k2f