To travel hopefully ....

It has been my invariable habit for years now to post once and once only here each  day and then to let the chips fall where they may.

Yesterday, however, Andy Howell published an article called The players who caught Warren Gatland's eye on the final weekend before Six Nations selection, in Wales Online.

On possible eye-catcher, I was pleased to note, was Dan Fish:

Although Dan Evans at the Ospreys has had more headlines this season, the slippery Fish has been a creative influence for Cardiff Blues with the counter-attacking ability which has netted him a new contract and saw him touch down twice at Harlequins.

Wales’ full-back worries may have eased at the weekend with Gareth Anscombe making a successful return to combat, albeit at outside-half, but Fish could be among those in the swim for a place if Liam Williams was to be ruled out.

Warren Gatland will announce his squad for the 2016 RBS 6 Nations at noon today. This post will be updated after that. Until then, we live in hope.

Update 12:00: Nothing Fishy about this.

Warren Gatland has named a 37-man squad for the 2016 RBS 6 Nations that features one uncapped player in scrum-half Aled Davies and squad recalls for Tom James and Josh Turnbull.

Cardiff Blues pair James and Turnbull last played for Wales in 2010 and 2014 respectively, though James was part of Wales' 2015 Rugby World Cup training squad before withdrawing through injury.

The experienced squad includes 31 players who featured for Wales in the 2015 Rugby World Cup and will be led by Wales' most experienced captain Sam Warburton.
The front-row contingent is made up of props Gethin Jenkins, Paul James and Rob Evans, along with Samson Lee, Tomas Francis and Aaron Jarvis.

Scott Baldwin, Ken Owens and Kristian Dacey are named as the hookers.

Alun Wyn Jones, who today it was announced signed a new long-term National Dual Contract, is named along with Luke Charteris, Dominic Day, Bradley Davies, Jake Ball and Josh Turnbull.

Four British and Irish Lions are named in the back-row, captain Sam Warburton, Dan Lydiate, Justin Tipuric and Taulupe Faletau. They are joined by James King and Ross Moriarty.

Uncapped scrum half Aled Davies is joined by regional team-mate Gareth Davies and Lloyd Williams. Dan Biggar and Rhys Priestland are named as the fly-halves. Jonathan Davies, who missed the RWC through injury, returns alongside Jamie Roberts, Cory Allen and Tyler Morgan in the centres. The back three players include Tom James, Hallam Amos, George North, Alex Cuthbert, Gareth Anscombe, Matthew Morgan and Liam Williams.

"We have selected a squad that rewards players form as well as picking a lot of experience and that continuity is important to us," said Gatland.

"We have picked a larger squad than normal, we have a few injuries at the moment, those players aren't too far away from getting back on the field so we are happy with the mix.

"Aled (Davies) is someone who has been on the radar the last couple of years and his selection is reward for his form.

"Tom (James) is playing very well for the Blues and we have been impressed with Josh's (Turnbull) performances recently.

"It is always exciting when the Six Nations comes around and we are looking forward to meeting up next Monday."

Wales kick off their 2016 campaign away to reigning champions Ireland on Sunday February 7th before welcoming Scotland to Principality Stadium on Saturday February 13th.

WALES' 2016 RBS 6 NATIONS SQUAD: (37 Players)
Forwards:
Rob Evans (Scarlets), Paul James (Ospreys), Gethin Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), Tomas Francis (Exeter Chiefs), Aaron Jarvis (Ospreys), Samson Lee (Scarlets), Scott Baldwin (Ospreys), Kristian Dacey (Cardiff Blues), Ken Owens (Scarlets), Jake Ball (Scarlets), Luke Charteris (Racing 92), Bradley Davies (Wasps), Dominic Day (Bath Rugby), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys), Josh Turnbull (Cardiff Blues), Taulupe Faletau (Newport Gwent Dragons), James King (Ospreys), Dan Lydiate (Ospreys), Ross Moriarty (Gloucester Rugby), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Sam Warburton (CAPT) (Cardiff Blues).
Backs:
Aled Davies (Scarlets) *, Gareth Davies (Scarlets), Lloyd Williams (Cardiff Blues) Dan Biggar (Ospreys), Rhys Priestland (Bath Rugby), Cory Allen (Cardiff Blues), Jonathan Davies (Clermont Auvergne), Tyler Morgan (Newport Gwent Dragons), Jamie Roberts (Harlequins), Hallam Amos (Newport Gwent Dragons), Alex Cuthbert (Cardiff Blues), Tom James (Cardiff Blues), George North (Northampton Saints), Gareth Anscombe (Cardiff Blues), Matthew Morgan (Bristol Rugby), Liam Williams (Scarlets).
* Denotes uncapped player

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

 Dan Fish turned out for the Cardiff Blues for what should be the final time yesterday. Playing against Toulouse, the reigning European champions whose side featured World Rugby’s player of the year Antoine Dupont, must be a good way of closing your account.

Wales Online:

Dan Fish is the popular Welsh rugby player who's been trying to retire for weeks but can't

See https://nickbrowne.coraider.com/search?q=%22Dan+Fish%22 for our coverage over the years.

Wales: 15 and 7 a side

WALES TEAM TO PLAY ENGLAND:

Leigh Halfpenny (Toulon); Alex Cuthbert (Cardiff Blues), Jonathan Davies (ASM Clermont Auvergne), Jamie Roberts (Racing Metro), George North (Northampton Saints); Dan Biggar (Ospreys), Rhys Webb (Ospreys); Gethin Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), Richard Hibbard (Gloucester), Samson Lee (Scarlets), Jake Ball (Scarlets), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys), Dan Lydiate (Ospreys), Sam Warburton (Cardiff Blues, Capt), Taulupe Faletau (Newport Gwent Dragons).

Replacements: Scott Baldwin (Ospreys), Paul James (Bath Rugby), Aaron Jarvis (Ospreys), Luke Charteris (Racing Metro), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Mike Phillips (Racing Metro), Rhys Priestland (Scarlets), Liam Williams (Scarlets).

No surprises there, but I have also noticed that Dan Fish has joined up with the Welsh 7s squad in Wellington in round four of this season's HSBC Sevens World Series on 6-7 February.

Wales Sevens squad:

Jevon Groves (WRU Sevens)
Sam Cross (WRU Sevens)
Jason Harries (WRU Sevens)
Alex Webber (WRU Sevens)
Nicky Griffiths (WRU Sevens)
Lloyd Evans (Ospreys)
Ross Jones (Ospreys)
Craig Price (Scarlets)
Luke Morgan (Newport Gwent Dragons)
Dan Fish (Cardiff Blues)
Will Harries (Ealing Trailfinders)
Tom Williams (Blues)
Aled Jenkins (Ospreys)

half Dan, half Fish

I was on the office yesterday when I noticed that the Cardiff Saracens game was being shown live on Channel 4 and that Dan Fish had started, so I rushed home to catch it.

We lost but the Blues were winning at half time due to Dan's try a minute into the video above. You can go directly to it at https://youtu.be/UPbaAJR3fck?t=60

Feed the FIsh

So proud of the guys in these photo.

32 players and 16 staff stuck in quarantine, more injured but this group stepped up.

The effort, spirit and endeavour shown in the face of adversity has put more pride in the jersey than any victory. Thank you.

Is it dusty in here? 🥺 pic.twitter.com/YQotff72Hr

— Cardiff Rugby (@Cardiff_Rugby) December 18, 2021

My brothers and I talk with my mother over Skype every Saturday morning. Vince told me today that Dan still can't retire. Wales online put it best "Harlequins v Cardiff team news as cult hero Dan Fish to go against England star Marcus Smith" - https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/harlequins-v-cardiff-team-news-22494594.

Dan, the great grandson that is a result my Auntie Nellie's courting of Bunny Churcher through the barbed wire at the bottom of the garden of the house PG grew up in. The other side of the fence was an Air Force base. A base that was referred to in PG's play "Small Change." We saw a revival of it recently. Do I have a family or an almanac of the twentieth century?

Fish bites, slippery Fish; insert your own pun

Here are the highlights of the Blues 24-23 win over Munster from Friday night. A strong run from Dan Fish right at the beginning then the winning try two minutes five seconds in to the video and about seventy into the game.

Pondering Munster, I would guess - though I'm not sure - that Cork and Waterford is where my Irish ancestors would have come from.

awkward squad

The 34-man Wales squad that Warren Gatland announced yesterday for the 2015 RBS 6 Nations includes four uncapped players, one of whom is the Blues' Gareth Anscombe, who was signed from the Waikato Chiefs in New Zealand recently, can play fly half or full back, and is qualified for Wales through his mother.

The Cardiff Blues also signed Argentina international full back Lucas González Amorosino in September 2014. Since November Dan Fish doesn't seem to have got much of a look in and can be found turning out for Cardiff RFC under permit while still in the Blues' first team squad.

When you think that Dan (a relative of ours) was playing full back for the Possibles against the Probables last June in the final trial for the Welsh party that toured Australia in the summer, going from that to what looks like the fringes of the Blues squad in six months or so shows what a tough environment professional rugby is.

As a postscript, Fish and Josh Navidi (a man widely regarded as unlucky not to make the cut with Wales yesterday) both signed for the Blues from Glamorgan Wanderers at the same time.

'The old rugby game?  Hardest game in the world. Done it meself, you see.'

Any Fish you wish

In tonight's derby, for the Blues "the astute Dan Fish is preferred to the maverick talent of Matthew Morgan at full-back" while the Ospreys have "opted for Sam Davies, with Wales fly-half Dan Biggar restricted to a spot on the bench."

I am driving back to Cardiff this afternoon. I think dinner is likely to be taken on the lap in front of BBC2 Wales on the telly in the lounge rather than - more formal like - in the dining room.

Still got the blues

I spent most of the day in a vegetative state on the couch binging on Amazon Prime TV and movies. This is so unlike me that I thought I would record it here.

This evening though, Cardiff Blues have beaten Benetton Treviso 56 - 8, to revenge a defeat earlier in the season; the one that so vexed Gareth the rugby gnome (Icons passim).

Even better, on 74 minutes Tom James got his name on the scoresheet after a break from Dan Fish sent him over for his ninth of the season, then four minutes later Fish himself sprinted over from long-range for a special solo effort.

We may expect more spring in my step tomorrow.

Feed the Fish

Vote for your September TRY OF THE MONTH:https://t.co/EFLmoU8G2E@sshingler10 @TomJ_11 @DanFish15 @matthewmorgan23

— Cardiff Blues (@cardiff_blues) 30 September 2016

Please vote for Dan Fish's try against Munster above. He is back from the injury he sustained scoring it today, though starting on the bench.

Always read the small print

Looking at the Old Ruts U15 league fixtures I can see that there is a home game on Sunday January 31 against Warlingham.

If that - as it should be - is played at the club, my Dry January will finish at noon in the bar rather than midnight. Everyone is cordially invited,

On the subject of rugby, Dan Fish played very well and scored a great try as the Blues beat the Scarlets yesterday. The only way I could watch it online was on S4C (Sianel Pedwar Cymru) which is a Welsh language channel. I muted that and put the Radio Wales English language commentary on a different device. The video lagged the audio by about twenty seconds which was initially disconcerting, though I was amazed how quickly I got used to it.

a bad grumf

The Bomber and I are taking advantage of half term to go back to Cardiff today and see family as well as the Blues v Scarlets derby.

Dan Fish is on the bench for the Blues though. Why no start? Base ingratitude from Danny Wilson.

All Cardiff

Dan Fish scored in under 90 seconds as the Blues beat Edinburgh at home on Saturday. The Sherman's Iphigenia in Splott opens to rave reviews at the National Theatre. (I must try and get along.) Are we witnessing a Cardiff renaissance?

Everything is everything

Warren Gatland says his squad selection for Wales’ tour of South Africa shows that size isn’t everything.

The Kiwi coach has been renowned for picking big players during his reign, in particular packing his back-line with giants like George North, Jamie Roberts and Alex Cuthbert.

But now he has bucked that trend by selecting the diminutive Matthew Morgan - all 5ft 8ins, 11st 7lbs of him - following the Bristol-bound back’s scene-stealing display in Friday night’s trial match.

And he has also included 5ft 8ins, 12st 10lbs Scarlets winger Jordan Williams, who scored two tries for the Probables in their 55-7 victory at the Liberty Stadium.

“I’ve been criticised in the past for picking big players,” said Gatland.

“But it’s never been about that. It’s always been about picking what we think are the best players.

“Sometimes at the highest level if you are big and you are fast and you are skilful you are probably always going to have the advantage over someone who is a little bit smaller.

“But I thought Matthew Morgan came on in the second half and made a massive impact.

“He was the most dangerous player on the field during that period, so you have got to sit up and take a bit of notice. He was one of the last names added to the squad, but he deserved it and good luck to him.

“He’s definitely got something to offer. He can change a game.

“The beauty about it was he came from nowhere when he came on. I suppose that’s the romance of the trial.

“Someone can produce something, do something and get their name on the touring sheet and I thought that was special about Friday night.

“He was definitely an outside bet, but he came on and lit the place up.

“The way the game opened up a little bit in the second half you saw some of his skills really come to the fore to be able to do what he did to catch the eye. It wasn’t just catching the eye of the coaches and the selectors, but also the crowd as well. They were really getting behind him.”

Morgan, 22, has played the bulk of his rugby at fly-half for the Ospreys, but it was as a replacement full-back that he shone for the Possibles.

“He has played a lot at 10, but maybe full-back gives him a little bit more time and space on the ball,” said Gatland.

“You put someone like that in the team and you’ve got to use his attacking ability and encourage him to bring the ball back.

“You have to exploit the ability he does have when the game breaks up. You know you have to play a bit different if he is involved and try to let him use the skills he has got.

“There are one or two players carrying knocks and that has given him the opportunity.

He has to make the most of it. Go out there and make an impression.”

I'm struggling to find this Matthew Morgan fairy tale as romantic as everyone else, because it was Dan Fish he came on to replace as the Possibles' full back at half time.

Highlights

I have embedded the highlights of the Blues/Scarlets game above and tweeked it to start 46 seconds in with Dan Fish's try.

YouTube embedding from the NFL channel is disabled, but if you take a gander at https://youtu.be/6dgGdxfSUPg you can see the highlights of last night's game in which the Seattle Seahawks closed out their regular season with a 36-6 victory over the Arizona Cardinals. They now move on to the NFC playoffs to face the Minnesota Vikings away. That game is around 6pm UK time next Sunday. I wonder how I can watch it?

Wittgenstein is invoked

Pro12: Ospreys 46-24 Cardiff Blues

Clinical Ospreys hammered Cardiff Blues in the first Welsh derby of the season.

Blues started well and led 10-3 after Kristian Dacey's try, but shipped 19 points after full-back Dan Fish was yellow carded for a professional foul.

"Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent." („Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen.")

Dan Fish

Out

Dan Fish has been out injured since he tore a hamstring last September. That must be hard when, with Liam Williams and Leigh Halfpenny both with the Lions, he should have been in with a good chance of making the Wales squad for the summer tour.

As it is, one time rival (Icons passim) Matthew Morgan has been overlooked, but fellow Blues player nineteen year old Rhun Williams has been named in the Welsh squad for their two-test tour this summer. He is the only specialist 15 that I recognise in the selection. Suddenly twenty six seems old.

Welsh rugby's 50 hardest men

25. John Hickey (Cardiff)

Responsible for some real fireworks on Guy Fawkes night in 1966 when he left his mark on great Wallaby scrum-half Ken Catchpole in Cardiff’s famous victory over Australia. An aggressive blind-side flanker who never took a backward step. Became a landlord.

Also, as reminisced about in a phone call last night, my mum's cousin. John's mother was my gran's sister. Died last month I am sorry to say.

One from the other side of the family to Dan Fish to tell the Bomber about.

thicker than water

Arriving back in Cardiff I was delighted to discover that Dan Fish, the possibles full back, was my cousin's grandson and thus - according to some quick internet research - the second cousin once removed of the Bomber (also a full back). He also has an old school CV of St Illtyd's College, St Albans RFC and Glamorgan Wanderers before graduating to the Blues and Wales U20s and Sevens.

He didn't make the cut but it added a wonderful frisson to the game.