Nations Championship: What Wales learned from Barbarians experience

Headliner North rolled back the years to provide the theatre on Saturday but it was a shame he was playing to an almost empty gallery.

Watching top-tier internationals performing in a near empty stadium, with two out of the three tiers closed, was surreal.

It looked desperate. No official attendance was announced with pre-match ticket sales given between 15,000 and 20,000.

The double-header was staged in the 82,000 capacity ground with the Barbarians hosting the event and Wales classed as the away side.

Wales were never planning to play in June or July at the the Principality Stadium, a venue that has not hosted an early summer international for five years. Rock band Metallica played a concert at the venue the following day.

The acid test of whether interest is lacking in Welsh rugby team and World Rugby’s new tournament will come this Saturday when Fiji and Wales face each other at the home of Cardiff City.

Another rugby quirk means Fiji will be the home side in the Welsh capital despite being more than 10,000 miles away from Suva.

No games are being played in Fiji during the tournament with the home games against England and Scotland being staged in Liverpool and Edinburgh respectively.

Ticket sales are believed to be initially slow and it is Fiji’s responsibility to market the game as the ‘hosts’.

The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) could point to that, but it should not hide behind it.

The WRU has a duty to their players to try and ensure the ground is close to its 33,000 capacity.

This is the only opportunity for the Welsh public to see Wales play in Cardiff this summer and Welsh rugby’s governing body must be part of the process in promoting that.

A repeat of what happened last week in Twickenham benefits nobody.