In summer 1997 in the week before the Lions were to play the third and final Test I suggested to Alastair Campbell the Prime

In summer 1997, in the week before the Lions were to play the third and final Test, I suggested to Alastair Campbell, the Prime Minister's press secretary, that Mr Blair should send a message of cheer and encouragement to our brave boys in South Africa.What exactly, Mr Campbell inquired - for he is a supporter of Burnley Football Club - was going on in that part of the world? I explained. My theory is that he was forced to play the game during his schooldays at Fettes College and has hated it ever since.Certainly he has paid it little enough attention during his period of office. But I suspect his presence there owed more to the opportunity it provided for meeting the French Prime Minister than to any affection for rugby which he may possess. These latter ministers are Kate Hoey, the Minister for Sport, and Chris Smith, who was formally her boss at the Department of National Heritage. If successive governments had adopted a laissez-faire approach towards all sports, there would be no reason to complain.

There is a good deal to be said for regarding sport as having nothing whatever to do with government. But that is not how the politicians see it.Jenny Shipley, the New Zealand Prime Minister, is gallantly meeting the national squad on their return to the islands, even though it is said that their relative lack of success may cost her party the forthcoming election.Then again, Mr Blair duly turned up at Cardiff for the final. Nevertheless, it must be said clearly that Tony Blair and the ministers responsible for sport have behaved in a disgraceful way over the Rugby World Cup. I am cheery of making the principal point, not because it has been made before - for it has not been emphasised nearly enough - but because I try to keep away from politics in this column This space is supposed to be about rugby.

What follows is a rehearsal of some critical points which I and several other colleagues in the commentating trade have been making in the last month or so. There will then, thankfully, be a rather longer break, until next January, than the official three day "off-season".. WELL, THE best team in the competition won, and France gave me my money's worth. Hopefully next year I'll play the same type of golf and we'll see about the number of victories, but see if I can continue to improve."Woods' next appearance is as the defending champion at this week's Johnnie Walker Classic in Taiwan, the opening event on the 2000 European Order of Merit. There is also mourning for the death of the US Open champion, Payne Stewart, in a plane crash last month.As for Woods, when Olazabal said he is "playing like the angels," he did not mean his compatriots, the Miguels Jimenez and Martin. Woods started last week by saying he still had plenty of improvements to make "in all areas of my game".

At the end of it, he added: "It was a great way to end the year. It has been a phenomenal entrance on to the golfing scene and yesterday it was confirmed Garcia has won the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year award."This is great," said Garcia, only the second Spaniard to win the award after Jose Maria Olazabal in 1986. "You can only be a rookie once and I feel fortunate to have achieved so much in my first season. When I was young I really looked up to Jose Maria and it is great to see his name on the list along with others like [Nick] Faldo, [Sandy] Lyle and Montgomerie."With such young and charismatic stars as Woods and Garcia, the game is entering the new millennium in good shape. It does so on the back of highly dramatic moments, such as David Duval shooting a 59 to win a tournament, Olazabal's emotional Masters victory, Jean Van de Velde's collapse and Paul Lawrie's surprise win in The Open. Still a teenager until January, El Nino only turned professional in April but finished third on the Order of Merit, won twice, was runner-up to Woods in the USPGA and became the youngest player to appear in the Ryder Cup.

Look at Tiger, he comes over for the Deutsche Bank and the AmEx and wins both."Yet if anyone is to challenge Woods, Sergio Garcia must be the favourite. In contrast to his earlier assertions that American was not the place for him, Westwood is rethinking his schedule."I'll probably play less in Europe and a little bit more in America. I feel it is more important to be No 1 in the world rankings than No 1 in Europe Realistically, to achieve that, you have to play in America. "It was nice to have a chance going into the final round of the last tournament but next year will be different," the 26-year-old said. "I have had to improve every year to keep winning and that's what means most to me. I'll be just as determined next year."But Lee Westwood, who moved up from third in the last two years to second on the Order of Merit, will not be picking up the gauntlet. "Seve Ballesteros won six of these things and to surpass that is unbelievable," the 36-year- old said.