ON AUGUST 27, 1995 Blur were sitting proudly on top of the charts after winning their battle with Oasis while rugby had just gone professional. Tyler Morgan’s mum was also heavily pregnant.

The Newport Gwent Dragons centre, who turns 20 next month, is currently battling to make Wales’ World Cup squad and it won’t be long before there is a Test debutant who hasn’t got the foggiest about Damon Albarn or the Gallaghers, or what CD single is for that matter.

As someone who sat on the fence and bought both ‘Country House’ and ‘Roll with It’, and still doesn’t trust downloads, it’s an indication that time has passed rapidly. Scarily, the Wales squad at June’s World Rugby U20 Championship have as much of a connection with Pulp’s ‘Disco 2000’, which I got on cassette, as I did to Lonnie Donegan’s ‘Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour (On The Bedpost Overnight)’.

Yet at times those in sport can be too quick to look to the next generation, undervaluing experience and too quick to write off those who have been around for a while.

Last week television pundit Shane Warne, one of the biggest Australian underperformers of the Ashes series, was furious over the decision to go with 30-year-old Peter Siddle ahead of 23-year-old Pat Cummins for the fifth Test.

"They've got Bangladesh coming up which Peter Siddle won't go to and you've got a 23-year old Pat Cummins. What an opportunity to look at him in a Test match here. I just can't understand it,” said the legendary leg spinner.

Siddle went on to take match figures of six for 67 off 37.4 overs at the Oval, bowling with a discipline that the tourists had previously lacked.

Unless you are talking about gymnastics, 30 is not over the hill and sometimes it is wise to plump for a player with a few miles on the clock rather than a bright young thing of undoubted talent.

There are hot prospects – like Morgan, who looked extra special when in the black and amber of Newport and when taking his first steps in regional rugby – but there are others who have never got a break.

In rugby we saw that with Dragons forward Andrew Coombs, a player who fought back from shoulder injuries to become a professional player and then represent Wales 10 times.

It was feared in many quarters that Test rugby would be a step too far but he was one of the unsung heroes of the 2013 Six Nations.

Plotting for the future should not come at the expense of the here and now – winning games is what it’s all about and it serves no good for a promising talent to be blooded in a losing team, as we have seen at Rodney Parade.

In the past youngsters have been thrown in at the deep end without experience around them, something that always carries the risk of shattering their confidence. A sink-or-swim approach is wrong for a teenager or early 20-something.

There is no doubt that young flanker Ollie Griffiths will follow Morgan into the national squad and has already been closely monitored by Warren Gatland and his coaches.

He will feature more prominently for the Dragons this season and it’s a matter of time before he makes his first start after seven appearances off the bench in 2014/15.

But when attempting to aid the progress of the 20-year-old from Newbridge we must not forget how excellent Nic Cudd has been in the 7 jersey over the past few seasons; frankly the Dragons haven’t looked the same side without the tenacious west Walian in the XV.

We are all guilty of it – I have written many times about Jack Dixon being a potential successor to Jamie Roberts when the Lions centre is only 28 – but we shouldn’t be in such a rush to swap the old for new.

South Wales Argus:

THE OMISSION of Danny Cipriani from the England squad, which is set to be officially confirmed this afternoon, has prompted many to ponder whether there is a place for mavericks in Test rugby.

Australia seem likely to go with the more conservative Bernard Foley ahead of Quade Cooper although Wales are reportedly mulling over whether to include Matthew Morgan.

The diminutive Bristol fly-half/full-back is undoubtedly an exciting runner but is as likely to drop a clanger as he is to dance through and it would be a shocker if he were to make it at the expense of Hallam Amos.

Yet for all the talk about the potential impact of flair players at the World Cup, as ever it will be those with cauliflower ears that hold the key.

The most potent attacking weapon of recent years has been the driving lineout; something so hard to stop, especially when players joining the maul ahead of the carrier at the tail is ignored.

Think back to Wales’ nervy success against Fiji last autumn when it was this very method that set up two of the hosts’ three tries in Cardiff and led to the situation where Campese Ma’afu was dismissed for a second yellow card, so keen was the prop to get an early shove that he took out Bradley Davies in the air.

And then there is the scrum with Australia boosted by the coaching knowhow of Argentina legend Mario Ledesma, one of the shrewdest moves by the Wallabies for years.

No longer are they seen as a soft touch up front and Wales are slightly worried in that department themselves.

On the loosehead side there will always be question marks over Gethin Jenkins’ fitness and he has endured some nightmares at the hands of French official Jerome Garces, who fitness-permitting will be the whistler in the clash with England.

And on the tighthead there have to be doubts over Samson Lee’s ability to get straight back to a Test level standard of scrummaging after an injury to his right Achilles, a problem that will also play on his mind.

Wales need Tomas Francis to show he is the man for the big occasion in Dublin this Saturday because neither Scott Andrews or Aaron Jarvis have convinced.