Don’t lose this drama to pay TV

I’M EXHAUSTED just trying to replay in my mind everything that happened in Paris on Saturday night but my overriding emotion is what an incredible advert it was for Six Nations rugby and how important it is that the tournament stays on terrestrial TV when the rights come up for grabs this week. As a spectacle it was one of the greatest Six Nations games, with every conceivable twist and turn played out by two teams going at it full bore, and I await with interest the prime time viewing figures which I suspect will have gone through the roof. I believe BT Sport and Sky do an amazing job, and Amazon did a fine job covering the less than compelling Autumn Cup last year. But there are occasions in the crowded sporting calendar that rugby needs the kind of mass audience that only terrestrial TV provides. It’s not just about the highest bidder. As for Saturday night, my gut feeling is that Wales probably deserved to win although I had tipped France — but sport is like that. Alun Wyn Jones (left) and his team thoroughly deserved their tilt at a Grand Slam but up until the last decisive 10 minutes at the Stade de France they had probably enjoyed the rub of the green. Then the rugby gods turned on them. You had to feel for Wales, they produced comfortably their best performance since the Warren Gatland era but lost their first game of the 2021 Six Nations. There is so much for Wales to be proud of though, not least the emergence of Louis Rees-Zammit. His disallowed try was a fraction from being one of the greatest finishes in Test rugby. As for France I would expect them to beat Scotland on Friday and get a try bonus but I am doubtful they will beat them by a sufficient margin to make up the points difference. It will be another nail-biter but this time there will be Welsh joy.