The day one Newbridge became four

SO, UEFA deemed it necessary to hire extra security guards to protect their new AI-based draw for the Champions League from falling victim to a cyber attack. It jerked the memory back to a Christmas long gone when the festive spirit played merry hell with another draw, in the name of what was then the sport’s most popular knock-out event.

The WRU Cup, still able during the pre-Heineken Cup days of the Eighties to attract bigger crowds for their final than the RFU at Twickenham for theirs, had reached the last 16 stage. The draw would be made at Pontypridd RFC, its clubhouse suitably festooned to ensure a seasonal goodwill for the BBC cameras.

The occasion would surely have passed without mishap had the decision not been made to delay the draw until after the chairmen and secretaries of the 16 clubs and a few WRU officials tucked into their Christmas lunch instead of before it.

The idea, according to the director, was to put everyone in a relaxed mood of collective jollity. In retrospect, a breathalyser or two might have been a useful safeguard against a few beers too many. When the draw took place, the official whose role was to match the number with the relevant club called Newbridge out four times. Luckily the chairman, chief inspector Rod Morgan of the South Wales Police RFC, rapidly identified the other three Newbridges.

John Cleese and the Monty Python crew would have killed for it…