In many ways rugby in Wales defines what Wales is and what people in Wales share.
From outside Wales, too, it is the rugby that commonly defines the nation-with the sport providing both widespread interest and one of the few positive associations of outsiders’ perception of Wales.
Rugby in Wales is a particularly strong example of this phenomenon, being perhaps the main thing that unites people in Wales.
Citizens commonly identify with their nation in the context of major sporting events: imagining the nation is easier when where is a national team playing another nation(Hobsbawm, 1990)