TWO Newport Gwent Dragons out here in Australia send messages back home in advance of big matches in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres tomorrow. Newport-based prop Rod Snow, a major figurehead in the Canada team which takes on Wales in the World Cup, has a warning for his Dragons teammates when he returns.

"I live and play in Wales, and if there is one game I want to win it is this game on Sunday," he said. "If we do it's going to make for some fun training sessions at Rodney Parade."

Clive Griffiths, the Dragons assistant coach and Wales' defence coach, says, "It's great to be here, it's a big tournament after the Rugby League World Cup as well.

"But I want to wish the Dragons all the best on Sunday against Glasgow at Rodney Parade. I hope they upset the kilts.'

THE stylish city that is Melbourne has delightful trams which we sampled en route to the Wales press conference in the pleasant suburb of St Kilda this morning.

It's a super way of travelling here, leisurely for a change and travelling about half the speed of the 'bullet' glass lift up 16 floors in our breathtaking hotel.

Melbourne's population is nearly three million, Sydney around four million, Perth two million and Brisbane around one-and-a-half million with the capital Canberra a mere 300,000. Yet about 80 per cent of Australia is desert, as we observed flying right over it on the way here, quite amazing.

Perth is four hours flying time from here and two hours behind in a different time zone.

BUT when it comes to rugby, or the union variety, the Aussies are, let's be polite, ignorant by and large. Newspapers trying to jump on the bandwagon of something globally significantly happening in their own country publish, for example, something called The Bluffer's Guide with a subtitle called Plan to jump on the rugby World Cup bandwagon but don't know a thing about the game?