'His teeth were around one of my fingers!' — Ugly incident in 'dirtiest' fixture led Wales star to name dog after French captain

There were two golden rules for anyone daring to put a finger or any other part of his anatomy into a ruck at the wrong time against France in the amateur era.

Rule one: Don’t do it.

Rule two: If you do decide to do it, always refer to rule one.

Unfortunately, for Wales prop John Davies he evidently hadn’t familiarised himself with such ideas.

He had some memorable encounters with the French over the course of his career.

But maybe none were as painful as the one which saw the then farmer have his finger bitten by France hooker and captain Jean-Francois Tordo.

It left such a deep impression on Davies that when he went home to his farm at Boncath in Dyfed he named his pet dog after the man who had munched him.

Happy days?

Sort of.

This weekend, the concern for Wales’ props Gareth Thomas and Tomas Francis will largely involve how to hold their own in a relatively straightforward pushing and shoving contest with their opposite numbers.

Close on three decades ago, matters were a shade more complicated.

How shall we put this?

Dark arts ruled, especially in French rugby, where front rowers were particularly vulnerable.

Not that it bothered all.

"Am I daunted about going out to Paris?" said Garin Jenkins before heading for the French capital with Wales under Graham Henry in 1999.

"Not at all. It’s a game of rugby and nothing more.

"No-one’s going to be singing The Old Rugged Cross at the final whistle. You just go there, play the match, enjoy it and go home. End of."

Call that signature Garin.

Utterly fearless at a time when not everyone shared such a trait ahead of a game with Les Bleus.

But scrapes did happen.

Ask Davies about his 1993 visit to the city of the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower and the Seine.

"I was in a maul with my