SHANE WILLIAMS
WALES AND LIONS LEGEND

Late bloomer: Alex Dombrandt starred for Cardiff Met Uni before breaking into professional rugby

We’ve been here before in Welsh rugby and I’ve been through it first-hand. In 2004 we won only two Six Nations games after reaching the quarterfinals of the World Cup six months earlier. Steve Hansen stepped down and we were plunged into darkness. In 2005 we won the first Grand Slam since 1978.
There seemed nowhere to go after we trudged off the pitch in Nantes in the wake of that 2007 World Cup defeat to Fiji. It was a fantastic game, ...