Gwlad, Gwlad, Pleidiol Wyf I'm Gwlad

In just twenty short days, the tournament of the year is about to begin.  Yes people, I am referring to the holiest of events: the rugby world cup!  The last three weekends have been a rare summertime treat, as there has been a Wales match every Saturday as part of the world cup warm up weeks.  And what's more, they even won two of the three matches.  It's not all good news though, as Morgan Stoddart has suffered a serious break to his leg, and Gavin Henson has broken his arm.  Matthew Rees is out because he needs neck surgery, and to add to that injuries causing worrying doubts over Gethin Jenkins and Steven Jones.

This year's world cup is a bit bittersweet for me because of what's going on with the sale of my Gran's bungalow at the moment, and dealing with no longer having concrete ties to Wales.  But enough of that.

I love everything that comes with the world cup - several matches in a day and figuring out who to support in order to give your team the best chances of getting through as possible.  I love having an outlet for my love of Wales: the way the opening bars of the national anthem make my heart swell and my eyes sting with tears, and holding my breath like my life depends on it when they are camped on the defence try line for minutes at a time.  In 2007, my heart soared as high winning against Canada and Japan as it plummeted losing to Australia and Fiji - exhilarating and despairing in equal quantities.

This year looks set to be tough, Wales face Fiji, Namibia, Samoa and South Africa in the pools rounds.  Jonathan Davies summed it up beautifully on BBC today when ironically stating they had an easy start into the competition with South Africa.  Then if any players were left standing they just had Samoa to look forward to - the men mountains from the South Sea Islands!  Namibia will offer a much needed bit of respite, followed by Fiji... the team who destroyed their chances four years ago...

So it's watch this space and keep those fingers well and truly crossed.  Cymru am byth, pob lwc!