Gareth’s wave off

★ GARETH Bale and his Wales team-mates wave goodbye as they leave their training HQ to jet off to the Qatar World Cup. The squad were given a heroes’ send-off as they prepared to represent their nation at the World Cup after a 64-year tournament drought.

★ Before take-off the Wales players went to Cardiff City’s stadium for a final training session in front of hundreds of schoolchildren.

The Dragons kick off their campaign against the USA on November 21 and are set to ignite home nation rivalry when they also meet England in the group stages.