WHAT should be a glorious page in Welsh rugby history has somehow become lost in the translation.

The seventies were, of course, one of the finest decades in Welsh rugby history and as such is a period we should all glory in.

I can understand those who feel some people hark back to it too often and even go so far as to throw it down the throats of the current day players, management and coaching staff.

But it has got to a stage where the great players from that decade are almost reviled.

'Oh no, not that again' or 'yes, but how old is he now?' or 'when did he last play the game?' - that appears to be the attitude among people today.

And it's not only squads and coaches who get sick and tired of hearing those great names brought up time and again.

It has caught on with large sections of the media too, who feel that anyone from that era no longer knows what the game is about, that it has moved on and they are irrelevant.

I have heard out here in Australia an all-time great, maybe THE all-time great - Gareth Edwards - disparaged and shown a complete lack of respect in conversations.

Steve Hansen may have a point when he says one former great hasn't got the 'balls' to tell him to his face what he says in a newspaper.

But a bit more empathy would not come amiss for people like Edwards and Gerald Davies, the latter now with us in Canberra, are a vital part of our rugby heritage.

They have achieved more than the whole of the current Welsh team put together and almost every one of the squad would not be fit to lace their boots, so I find this lack of respect quite disgraceful.

It's the same with regional rugby.

You have to move with the times say the current brigade and suggestions that four clubs - maybe Cardiff, Newport, Llanelli and Swansea - should be those representing Welsh rugby at the top are treated with utter disdain.

I am accused, even here in Australia, of trying to wreck Welsh rugby with a constant attack on the regional game.

But in reality what I am trying to do is save it, particularly in the east by preserving the name of Newport at the highest level.

Who on earth is going to get behind names like Dragons, Warriors and Ospreys? It's a joke. It's the top club names we, or many of us, still want. They are the names known and maybe even still respected out here, not stupid regional titles nobody knows.

I also find it ridiculous when the New Zealander who is Wales' media representative for the tournament, pleasant though she is, refers to the Welsh people at a Press conference or on the top table as 'We.'

How can that be when she has a broad New Zealand accent?

And, though it is not relevant to coming from New Zealand, something really must be done about a coach running on to the field of play and giving instructions. On Sunday in the match against Canada, Wales physiotherapist Mark Davies dashed on to treat an injured player, accompanied by Mike Cron, the scrummaging coach, who pretended to do the same, but merely dropped his bag on the floor and clearly gave out orders from Hansen via the headset to which they were connected.

Wales are not the only team which does this. England are particularly guilty, with about four men on the touchline, all running on to the pitch with different agendas.

But it is a growing practice which has to be outlawed by the International Board.