Have I dreamt this? Are Wales Rugby World Cup Champions?

I've just come back from taking Mrs CJ down to the gym at the Jail of Glamorgan
Hotel and have seen a strange sight. There's a big bus blocking the enterance
and no one can get around it because there are some thirty or so fans
(presumably the WRU anorak club) welcoming back Wales the World Champions? (well seven of them to be precise)

Now I do love my rugby, both in the union form and in the other form, but where have I been not to know that it's World Cup time again. I would have marked the occasion by obviously following my nation's team and cheering them on, even in defeat. So why am I so suprised of the news of our conquring heros? Well it's probably because this must be a total Mickey Mouse Competition.

Where was the live TV coverage?

Well I've got Sky. A quick look at te schedules shows no evidence of there being anything on there. Where then? A quick look on t'internet gave me the answer. Rugby World Cup Sevens 2009. com on demand. A subscription service. Pay per view in drag. But where was the publicity? The tournament took place in Dubai. I could understand if it was held in Hong Kong, but Dubai? No wonder there was no news. Now also being fair, I can also understand that the BBC didn't want to send people like Rick O'Shea, Charlo or even my old mate Phill Steele out to a dry country as in the past Welsh 7 a side teams have gone out very early and end up in a competition called The Plate or The Bowl or The Bucket or The Ashtray or something. Further research tells me that coverage of this tournament was on the dreaded Setanta Sports channel. Poor man's Sky. I've not subscribed to this channel because there's so much dross on it Dutch Soccer, Irish Sports, everything that Sky or BBC, ITV and the rest don't want. So am I disappointed that I wasn't able to witness this triumph by our nation's best exponents of the 7 a side game? Well no. I pay enough for watching sport as it is and the thought of splashing out another couple of my hard earned quids to watch 14 minutes of Kenya v Tunisia and the fact that England can be put in the same pool as Kenya, Tunisia and Hong Kong goes a long way to explain why Setanta got this gig.

For the record, Wales were runners up in Group F behind eventual finalists Argentina. In the Quarter Finals a shock 15-14 win against No 1 seeds New Zealand opened up the competition. Defeat of another 7's specialists Samoa in the semis set up a revenge match in the final against Argentina and then we were world champs. Scores by Richie Pugh and Tal Selly (who was named player of the tournament - and thus should be thought of as the best Sevens player in the world!!!) set up a tense finish to the game but with a minute remaining Aled Thomas, complete with Shane Williams dive, went over under the posts and the rest as they say is history. So the question I ask myself, is this the dawn of Rugby World dominance for the men in red? The squad of Rhodri McAtee, Lee Williams, Tom Isaacs, Craig Hill, James Merriman, Tal Selley, Aled Brew, Aled Thomas, Rhys Webb, Richie Pugh, Dafydd Hewitt, Lee Beach will now be accorded God status and when we go to the next tournament will probably find it difficult to qualify for the ashtray. I've just seen the opening titles of this week's Scrum V and YES IT's TRUE. The sight of Paul John, Coach to the Welsh team looking very much a martin O'Neil lookalike holding the trophy confirms this. That's life in Welsh Rugby. But for the moment I can hear the call WALES, WALES, WALES, WALES above that old Queen song "We are the Champion of Sevens, and we'll keep on fighting to the end, WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS, WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS, OF SEVENS"