They say you have to experience the not-so-good times to fully appreciate the special ones – in which case I consider myself well qualified to pass judgement on the best places in the world to watch a game of rugby.

The first game I ever went to was Tredegar vs Ebbw Vale, a local derby deep in the Welsh Valleys on a chilled Tuesday night thick with mist and drizzle, under floodlights that provided much the same illumination as you’d get from a box of birthday cake candles. Nothing was visible beyond a few metres, so when the spectators (both of them) huddled together at half time under the dilapidated main stand, informed analysis of the previous 40 minutes was limited to: ‘Er, anyone know the score?’

It would not be entirely accurate to say that the Recreation Ground only narrowly lost out to Cape Town’s Newlands in my top six rugby venues – which includes some of the biggest and best rugby stadiums in the world. Here they are.