My days as a schoolboy hooker for Gowerton School first 15 are long behind me. In fact, my last outing was on the wing for the redoubtable Assembly rugby team, which does so much for charity and for raising awareness of important issues within Wales and elsewhere. But, could I say to the Deputy Minister, if the six nations disappears behind a pay wall, whether it's Amazon, Sky or anybody else, it may, as Andrew R.T. Davies has rightly said, fill a gap in the coffers commercially for some of the six-nation unions, but it will be an unmitigated disaster in terms of participation, including grass-roots participation? Because we've seen what's happened to other sports, like cricket, that have disappeared behind pay walls.

So, I will propose to the Deputy Minister a suggested way forward that he could help with, because it is different here in Wales. The point that he made about Wales as a nation being central to decisions on which sports should be protected must now be raised with the UK Government, because this will come back for future bidding rounds. In that case, we need to make the case that rugby has a different pedigree and tradition in Wales. It was not born out of public schools, it was born out of mining communities, all the way back to its inception in Wales. In the 1970s, the teams that played had lawyers and doctors alongside colliers who were working down the pits as well, or in the steelworks. It is a working-class tradition in Wales, and that's why we are desperate to see this decision not take place and that it disappears behind a pay wall.

So, could I ask him: could he make those representations, picking up the lead that he made to the UK Government, that they should now change the way that these decisions are made and that they are not made by UK Ministers alone? When they describe a nation, they should look to the nations of Scotland and Northern Ireland, and Wales as well, about what is important to us.

Could you also make representations here and now to ensure that ITV and BBC can indeed make a joint bid? Because in this current round, unless the UK Government are going to change their mind and make this a gold standard sport that is protected, then the only hope we have, in fact, of filling the coffers and actually keeping it away from behind a pay wall is to have a good joint bid from ITV and BBC.

I was pleased to submit a letter to the Welsh Rugby Union—a difficult position that they're in—from all Labour backbenchers adding to what has been mentioned today, stressing the importance of this. But I think the Deputy Minister might be able to help if he can take those two issues up and put them very strongly. We need a joint bid to go forward to keep it free to view for all the people of Wales. I would say, in closing: this will be a disaster for international rugby, as well as for Wales, if it disappears.