Eyrie - 100124

The Ospreys have announced the appointment of Lance Bradley as their new CEO. Bradley has a proven track record in leading clubs and has experience in rugby. He was previously the managing director and CEO of Gloucester Rugby and was instrumental in the growth and success of the Gloucester-Hartbury women's team. Bradley's appointment is seen as a positive step for the Ospreys, and there is hope that he will bring new opportunities for both the men's and women's teams. Welcome to the Ospreys Irie. Hello and welcome back to the Ospreys Irie, the first one of 2024. I am James, joining me as always is my esteemed colleague Yestin, and back again, back again is the man, the myth, the Squidge. Robbie from Squidge Rugby, how are we? I'm good. I'm good. I'm well, still well, just about. How are you? How's everything going? I'm good. I'm still here. I've not been linked to any English clubs just yet. If you do see me popping up on the Leicester pod, we'll know that the salary cap at the WRAP has reached its full. Yesterday, how are we? How was Christmas? I'm good. Yeah, rather quiet one, except of the lot of rugby that I managed to watch, which was quite nice. I'm just spending time with the family, all that sort of stuff. And it was relatively quiet, not much went on, which I find is a good thing. But obviously that's up to interpretation. But yeah, it was good. It's quiet and didn't have much much on. And I think after all the rugby we've had from like January onwards, especially as an Ospreys fan, that you not want to watch the Ospreys Icarus on New Years. And yet, I love that more than any other win that we've had this year. Like any other rugby match, like Portugal, Fiji, basically any match of all in Portugal. And I'm just like, yes, I want to watch Lewis Jones running around in the mud, as pretend. But it's one of the great things about games like that is it's a novelty. You remember it in decades to come. You know, if it had been like a 38, 36 thriller, we would have forgotten it in five years time, you know? Whereas in five years time, you go, you remember that game at the brewery fields where the pitch was a state and then Morgan Moores popped up and it was just class for like a minute. And it was the minute where people played like proper rugby. And the rest of it was like watching an amateur game, like down your local club. And it's great. Like that was fantastic. And I will remember that for so long. It's like the closest equivalent, I guess, is the Cardiff pub team from a few years ago when all the players are in South Africa, you know, to field school teachers and the embryo that would later go on to become Cam Winnit. And all of those, that was fantastic. It was so much fun. And I'll always remember the Cardiff pub team there. Did he get sent off in that game or was that Beetham? Beetham got sent off, yeah, the week before. And then they brought in an even younger fullback, you know, for his debut the next week in Cam Winnit. That's the only other time I've seen someone be like heavily applauded and cheered after being red carded. I think Josh Adams gave him a round of applause as he was walking off to encourage the crowd to join in, in a way. That was the first time that's ever happened. I'll say if that's the only time you see someone applauded for a red card, you should watch more of the Pro Day Der. You don't pay a fine. You get paid for red cards in Pro Day. That's what kind of a phony he's got in there. While in the World Cup, me and Will, my brother, went to watch a Pro Day Der game, because of course, because why wouldn't you? We went round everywhere we were and went, where's the closest Pro Day Der game? Because we've got to go while we're in France. So we went to Rouen versus Montauban. And it was incredible in all the ways you want it to be. There was no red cards. I think we had the only Pro Day Der game of the season with no red cards. Everyone, everyone is screaming for everything to be a card. The best thing about it is all of the fans, every time the touch just put the flag up, just as the ball's gone out, they're like, no, it's 20 metres down there, 20 metres that way. At one point, the guy tried to start a fight with us and realised we don't speak English. It was great. Though we do speak French. It's like village rugby, but with massive budgets, isn't it? Yeah. Well, yeah, like bloody Rokunaguni was playing. Joaquin Tugule's ship brother, remember him? Oh, yeah. Like, imagine being the worst Tugule. It was fantastic, everything you possibly want. Both teams just had a 10, like a 70 metre boot. Who could do nothing else except for kick it. It was great. Oh, brilliant. And yes, you've covered, was it your 800th Premiership game of the year, is it? Well, I covered three over Christmas, which saw Pontypridd receive two red cards in one match. Yes. Then lose the other two by a point. So that kind of sums up for the Welsh Prime in a way, because yeah, those three games happened. And in fairness, even though they were three defeats, I thought they did play quite well. But they actually won because they have the most affinity. That's up for debate. I used to get involved. No, I don't get involved in those things. But yeah, well, then they got Neath on the weekend. We're starting to pick up a couple of wins here and there, so. Speaking of Neath, the under-18s are currently 12 all. The Dragons did eventually score, and they, I suppose, are up against it in the penalty count right now. I'll put it that way. But let's, before we go back into Pro Dido, let's talk news, because we've actually got some big, big news coming out of the Ospreys. We have a CEO. Out of nowhere, we have a CEO as well. We had no inkling that this was going on. We did not know that we were even in the hunt for one. We didn't know who was in the budget. But alas, Lance Bradley, former Gloucester managing director and CEO and former head honcho of Mitsubishi, has joined on to become our CEO. Yeah, it's quite exciting, because he's good at the rugby. He's a genuine, proven track record of leading a club from, let's be fair, not having a pot to piss in, to having a pot to piss in that had Adam Hastings in it and Santi Carreras. What's your thoughts on that, Justin? It's a good appointment. He seems to be a rugby person as well, which is a good thing. If you haven't seen on Twitter, he's actually at the Knoll right now, watching the under-18s in his first game as CEO, basically. So it's good to see. I don't really know much about him from his time at Gloucester, but he was quite vocal on social media, which is a good thing. When I saw the announcement, I was just refreshing Twitter, as I tend to do on a Friday morning, and then it popped up. I was thinking, is that the former Gloucester chief executive, Lance Bradley? And it was. So, yeah, I think it's a good appointment, and it's going to be quite exciting to see where it goes from here. Robbie, how do you feel about having Lance Bradley in? Yeah, no, it seems like fantastic news. Obviously, it's been about a year, just over a year, I think now, since Nick Garcia left, which time has flown by on that. It feels like not that long ago that we're hearing him vaguely talk about having been at Man City once, and that seems like what he contributed was occasionally mentioning that he'd met Pep. So, you know, and obviously, Nick Garcia came in with a really good track record in another sport, and in other businesses, and then got incredibly frustrated by rugby, and Welsh rugby in particular, and didn't really know where things were going and how to handle the internal politics, and let's be honest, there's bullshit that comes with Welsh rugby. Well, Lance Bradley has guided a premiership team, a top-level rugby team previously, through the most difficult task that a premiership team has been asked to face in COVID, and also in being Gloucester, which shouldn't be overlooked. That is a difficult set of circumstances. And so obviously, yeah, that's a really strong track record for everything you say, you know, came in through Mitsubishi, where he was managing director there, when he was sponsor of Gloucester, and then, you know, worked his way onto the board and ended up to being their CEO. By all accounts, really popular fan, did a lot of fan engagement stuff, drove a lot of stuff. Having read some stuff from Gloucester fans talking about him, they said there was a lot of fan engagement stuff that then dried up when he left. He's really at the forefront of that, really wanting to push fans and, you know, get fans more engaged and find ways to bring them in closer. I think having been a fan himself, I'm very much understanding that. But the other really exciting thing, and this is something that he does bring up in the brief interview we had with him as Osprey's CEO on their YouTube channel, is he was really key in bringing in and funding and properly resourcing Gloucester Hartbury, the women's team, who previously were just a Hartbury team. He brought them in, brought them into Gloucester, increased their resources enormously, increased the budget they had and was able to build to the point where last year now, in, what was it, late April, May time, they not only won the Premier Fifteens, but Gloucester had gone out and bidded to have the final played at their own ground. They sold it out, they did the big Queen's Home renaming. And a lot of that was down to the, well, almost all of it was the stuff put in place by Lance Bradley when he was in charge. And he said at the end of his interview on the Osprey's YouTube channel that the thing he was, well, one of the things he was looking forward to was little boys and he said hopefully in a few years little girls being able to grow up dreaming of playing for the Ospreys. So there has been Ospreys women's teams in the past. There's obviously the youth teams at the minute. It'd be really interesting to see how that goes and if it's something he's really chasing. It'd be something I'd be very excited to see and it is the biggest area of growth in rugby right now, is women's rugby. So, yeah, that's, every noise out of it sounds really positive and just having someone, you know, it's one of those where, you remember when, as I said in the press release, Y11 conducted a global extensive recruitment... Yeah. You remember last time we held one of those? Yeah. And the person they found was Alan Clarke, our defence coach, was, you know... Favourite ever press release. And the thing is, I actually believe this time, you know, I actually believe they went out and they did an extensive search and they found someone with the right background, with the right set of skills and with the right attitude to wanting to change things and buy into this. It feels like a good deployment for what this Ospreys team is building into and has been over the last few years. I follow, Gloucester are my premiership team, if you want to call them that, and I follow Lance Bradley a while back pre-COVID and we got to, I was thinking on Monday, I was reflecting, I was like, George Skidmore hasn't got long left at Gloucester and then I had a dark realisation that, oh my God, they're going to take Toby Booth off us and I'm actually going to cry, because I was like, if there's a man who can get something out of that Gloucester team, it will be him. And now Lance Bradley comes in, I'm like, I feel a bit better that we might get another contract out of Toby. We're going to get George Skivington to run the academy. We're going to start stacking them. Well, you look at the Ospreys under-18 coaching ticket tonight, it's James Hook, Bradley Davis and Paul James. Can you imagine being an under-18 and it's just like, yeah, yeah, I'm turning up for work. Who's coaching? Oh yeah, my heroes. Or my dad in one case. Yeah, or my dad, yeah. Jack and Rob Jones just keeps peering in the door at Glamdarsie and like, you're doing that wrong, like David Beckham style in that documentary. If Nick Jones doesn't do like a jumping pass onto his stomach tonight, what is the point? What's the point? What's the point? We've been waiting 18 years for this, 18 years plus. There are dads right now with a perfectly formed tear in their eye waiting for Nick Jones to do a diving pass. It's like we waited a generation for Lloyd Williams to come through as the exact replica of Bryn Mawr Williams. And I know that will just be a lineage forever of like perfectly decent scrum halves who spend their time on the bench for Wales. And Lloyd needs to have like a child who has a son who has a son who has a son. It just goes on forever. I'm hoping that Rob Jones is the same. And what he'll do is he will do, as you say, a perfect dive pass and he'll just go and randomly start stamping on Nick White's feet. Let's just hope our Will Thomas doesn't have a son and meet some French second row at some point. That would be worse. It's a big worry how dead ball areas are so much longer. He'll just run dead all the time. Oh, right. Oh, we could do this all day. Rugby players' sons, who would have the best one? Who would have the best legacy son or daughter? Oh, right. Right. In other news, the long-rumoured St. Helen's redevelopment, rejuvenation, whatever you want to call it, seems to be picking up a lot more traction. Now, we've had nothing official from the university, from the Ospreys themselves, but we have had tweets from the councillor, Rob Edwards, saying that stuff is moving along. There are reports that companies based at the Swansea RFC clubhouse have been served notices that they need to vacate by a certain time because of redevelopment going on. Lance Bradley and Toby Booth said in their respective interviews that hinted towards not playing at the swansea.com in the foreseeable future. This can only be a good thing. I can't stress this enough. It is not an insult when you say to the Ospreys or Ospreys fans, your stadium feels hollow, or you don't get the fans, or you don't feel your stadium. We agree with you. It is not an insult. It is something that we've known for years, especially as our crowds have gone down a bit more, we have known that this is an issue. The swansea.com has been a fantastic ground for us, especially the corporate side. As someone who travels to the game with someone in a wheelchair, in terms of disabled facilities, the place is fantastic, and we can't thank them enough for that. But we have simply cannot stay there long term. We need essentially what Edinburgh has. That is what we need. If you took Edinburgh stadium and put it on Swansea beach, that is what we need. That seems to be picking up steam. As someone who goes around the grounds at premiership level, your brewery fields, your St Helens, how vital do you think that will be for the Ospreys? I think it would only be a good thing. Obviously, we've seen the tweets from the councillors about St Helens, but from the New Year's Day game, it was great to see a packed stadium. I was very fortunate to be in the press area for Swansea against Barbarians back in May, and to see the terraces at St Helens full to the rafters was another really positive thing as well. Everyone knows, anyone that is inclined to know anything about the Ospreys knows that the swansea.com stadium is probably a little bit too big. I feel like the stadiums where the clubs are at, it feels like those grounds probably need a bit more doing up as well. It's nice to see encouraging and positive talks about St Helens. Hopefully, it will lead to something. Who knows? It's still very early stages, I think. Other than that, I don't think there is any other news, for once. It's been quite a non-news-worthy Christmas. Injury-wise, we are pretty cropped in the back row. We're veering dangerous into AI-generated players now. Apparently, everyone is back at the end of January, though. Everyone is back the moment the Six Nations starts and everything pauses. If all goes to plan, we will have Don Morris, Toby Fricker, Cuspert, Tiparik. Tiparik will be back in the next two weeks. He's training them right now. To what extent, I don't know. Will Hickey is back playing for Swansea. There's a good roll of injuries, hopefully, back for that block of games. That's kind of the key thing, is the way the fixtures have fallen. In many ways, the season and how the Ospreys do in the URC, at least, is going to be defined by the Ulster game in the middle of the Six Nations and the Munster game afterwards. Those games have basically become must-wins. If they win, then they're in a really good position to get into the playoffs. Obviously, there are going to be players missing with Wales. Probably not as many as there were last year, but there will still be a reasonable number. It begs questions. If you can get a few of those players back from injury, Tiparik would be huge, Morgan Morris would be huge. Will Griff as well. Do we know how far away he is? He was six to eight weeks back in September. He can't be far off. Who else was there? Don Morris, Toby Frickle are the two I was thinking of as well. Ratty's already back. Ratty's back. Deves is a return to play, so he should be back. I assume Tristan Davis is the same. Again, not something we were really told about, and it wasn't really obvious in the day. Rhys Davis we knew nothing about. We knew he was out for that one game or two games. Presumably, he's okay. I think that would be broadcast a bit more if that wasn't anything other than innocuous. It's very much the other kind of long-term want that's been gone. It'd be nice to have that depth back again. I think this squad has the capability to cope with the big stars being away. Like, he's there with Lakes, he's out in Beards. Obviously, Jack Morgan's out anyway. We have the capability to cope with them. It's when you're dipping into proper depth, being tested. If Ben Warren goes down, that's a problem because you've got Rhys Henry. You only fit tight-ed realistically. Sorry, Tom Boateng goes down. Rhys Henry then has to come across, so then you're bringing in Cameron Jones. No, not him, the other one. James Kenney, is he not ready yet type thing, things like that. It'll be a real depth. The Ulster game, we have to target as a win, as a four-point minimum. That Munster one, I think is also winnable because Munster have zero players left. Yeah, this is it. It's going to be Peter O'Mahony on his own who will also be injured, but he just, through sheer spite, will not give in and let them roll over the fixture. So he just turns up on crutches, just stands on his own shouting at them. But, yeah, it's such a... But we've got to go to Winter Leinster in that time as well, I'm pretty sure. I'm just going to shoot. Is Josh Thomas available? He's back. Sam Cross, get them both back from Newcastle. Sean Fenton. Tom Haberfield, make it happen. Yeah. You looked good in the Welsh Prem last time I saw him play. Nearly scored a goal. Nearly scored a goal all the time. One of the best players in rugby. Union or league. Speaking of the rugby, should we talk about the rugby? Because we had the Christmas period. Obviously, you last heard me with our good friend Hugh from Pirate Rugby Club and the other one who I will not mention. But, yeah, we talked all things Christmas derbies, that was really cool. I wasn't that confident going into the Scarlet skin just because of the history and things like that. But we won. We beat the Scarlets and we beat them at Parc de Scarlets. We did the double. It has been... What is it? It's something like 2017, 2018, we lost. 2015 was the last win down there. 2015 is mental. The year where Dmitri Hayek ran from 30 metres and made one of the best play assists in rugby history. Eli Walker, was it? Yeah, and we won by a point. So, the final score was 25-14? 11. 11, that's the one. The Scarlets are going to be buying your hands off to 14 points. They scored two tries. According to them, they dominated the game. I mean, it's hard to disagree in the first half. I thought they had a really, really good first half. The thing about the Scarlets, though, is I never believe they're going to score points at any moment. Even when they're lining up a shot at goal. Even when they're literally going over the try line, there's something desperately unconvincing about the Scarlets team. Yeah, go on. Sorry, I thought you were... No, I have some thoughts. Yeah. I agree. And I think the other thing in that half, that first half, which obviously was not high scoring and not full of drama, but I wasn't at any point worried about the Scarlets scoring a try. And it's kind of telling the only try they did score was an interception from the offence breaking it down. Yeah, this is my... This is my point. The stats will tell you that Scarlets just spent X amount of time in our 22. Ultimately, they missed three kicks and that screens of an organisation's shot on confidence. Because, you know, Yohan Lloyd is not a bad goal kicker. Like, even in the reverse fixture, he banged three from 40 metres out, you know, like it was no one's business. He misses three probably similar, if not easier kicks. What... Like you said, they only scored from a... Reece Davis offload and Gareth Davis ran it in. And even, yeah, it didn't look like at any point that their decision maker was going to need to try. Lee on Scarlets FIFA said that they blended six try scoring opportunities or whatever. And I get what you're saying, but no try is a certain try, right? That... But you've got to look at that Tom Rogers one in the second half, where he blatantly, you know, a two-on-one. I've got a screenshot on my phone of them set up in a beautiful, you know, everyone's in the pocket and people can run dummy lines and they take the entire pace of the attack and Sam Parry jogs across and turns the ball over. You know, things like that. We looked comfortable enough in defence. You know, Craig Evans, decided that Gareth Thomas wasn't scrummaging properly and that probably hampered us a bit and sort of how we wanted to impose ourselves on the game. But we came back from that and ultimately we looked better. We looked like a better coach team. We looked better, disciplined. Adam Beard really outshone Josh McLeod in terms of captaincy. Yes, then how do you feel about the game? I felt in the first half in particular, you thought if they were up against a side that were clinical, it could have been 12 to 15 points down, if not a little bit more. I think the tap-and-go move that he did near the end of the first half, which sees Gareth Davies shoot out to the other side against where all the forwards have gone, because he sees half a gap and I think Owen Watkin makes the tackle, which means the ball's held up. You know, you think if they just kept that going through the forwards, you think there's definitely a better chance of scoring. So you think in the half-time, nil-nil. There was some good Osprey defence. There's a couple of really good Jim Fender highlights in there. Jim Fender continues to be the greatest second to ever exist now. And you thought at half-time, we looked good. My dad, on the other hand, mentioned to me, do you remember the time when McLeod scored that winner off of Crossfield? I said, yes. Yes, I did. And then, obviously, when we went into the second half, they scored intercepts, so there might have been a little glare across the room at that stage. But full credit to the Ospreys then in the second half. They came back into it. They used, well, they used what was their strengths. I thought Reuben Morgan went into the shaky first half. He got whacked in the head by Johnny Williams and then came back on. And then he looked a completely better player. And, you know, and then we scored a couple of tries, which is always nice. And then Johnny Williams puts a pass on the floor and Jack Walsh dummies you on Lloyd and hey, presto, there's a winning pack of Scarlets for you. I think you mentioned the thought about the Ospreys looking much better coach. And I think that's ultimately what it comes down to. The Ospreys look like they're coached as a team and as a unit. And hence why they can, players can drop out, you know, they can lose Reece Davies. They can lose, you know, to players a lot over the summer, even the Alan Wynn-Joneses and whoever else. And they can bring in James Fender, who at the start of the season hasn't started a professional game. Harry Deeves, who again, hasn't played a great deal. Morgan Morse came in right before kickoff and is- He's a child. Yeah, yeah. Legally so. Like, you know, extraordinarily young team, able to bring these players in. And because they feel like a cohesive team and a cohesive unit, that isn't an issue, where you don't get that sense in the Scarlets. And part of that, I think, I think it exists at all levels in terms of how Dwayne Peele's built this team. They feel like a bunch of individuals playing for themselves. It doesn't feel joined up at all, right down to that Tom Rogers chance that he blows by not giving the pass. And there's a lot of individual glory going on type stuff. But beyond that, there's no real cohesion to the team at all. I think there's, you know, if he was back again, he'd be able to give the stat that's better than me because I haven't got it exactly. But I think they've changed their centres for something like nine games in a row. The Dragons game was the first time they'd stuck with the same centre partnership since, like, the debut- 2004. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, since Tim Swinson had that kick over the crossbar. Yeah. And that shows in the team, you know, when you're constantly changing all the important combinations and no one's able to bet in, no one feels secure in it. And the thing that was really telling for me was at the end of this game, was this game, one of the derbies anyway, they had Claire Thomas on via play. He asked Dwayne Peele what he thought went wrong. And he kept going back and forth on his answer. And then she suggested something. He was like, oh, yeah, no, I think it's that. And there was a clear sense of just, like, him not really knowing what he thought was wrong. Where, when you look at even that Montpellier game, or any of the games the Ospreys have lost that perhaps were by bigger margins or more significant, whatever, Bouffe's always had a clear idea of what he felt was wrong and how he was going to put it right, or why it wasn't anything to worry about, or why they need to change this or that. He's clearly got a really clear philosophy and idea on how he approached the game. I mean, we're all big fans of, you know, of Bouffe himself here. But it comes across just whenever the Ospreys lose a game and you listen to Toby B post-match, I feel reassured that he'll put it right. Yeah, this is not a dig on Peele, by the way. Yeah, yeah. We're not ragging on Peele. As much as I like to take the piss, I do like to take the piss. I feel like Dwayne Peele is, would have been a very good coach if he'd got this job two or three years later on. I feel like he got it before he was ready. And he's now starting to flounder a bit because he hasn't been in this situation before, where Bouffe has spent a career at London Irish, then a separate career, bouncing between Baffin Quinn's and stuff. And that was on the third career here. As well as having, you know, lived a life before that, where he was an electrician and he was an amateur player and he was everything else. It's a very different existence, Dwayne Peele. He's kind of, you feel he'll learn from all of this and he'll be a better coach for it. But he isn't there now, where I feel reassured by everything that happens with Toby Bouffe and dead on that he is taking his team forwards consistently. Fun fact, I found out today that my, the deputy head of the office like next to mine, it was a proud Lansderman. Toby Bouffe was his coach at university. Oh, wow. Huh. Yeah. But, you know, the man gets everywhere. On that, another thing that is really noticeable from this game is, is just how confident we were in decision making. So there's the bit, so Sam Parry wins that turnover penalty off that Scarlett's botched overlap, so to say. And the, we go upfield, we go upfield, we win the penalty off a line-up. I think it's off a line-up or something like that. Anyway, I tell a lie, it's when Josh McLeod gets yellow-carded. So there's a penalty off the line-up and then there's Josh McLeod gets yellow-carded. It's a team penalty, but ultimately for no off-stacking. And you can see, obviously it's zoomed in on, on Craig Evans. And you can just see Adam, Adam Beard straightaway go corner. Corner and that's it. And he's talking to them about what they're going to do. And they go to the corner. Sam Parry goes over eventually after two things or whatever it is. That is telling in how good a culture and a comfort, a side that's built on confidence. Not necessarily that's winning all the matches. We've won six matches this season or whatever it is. But it's a side that you can tell like each other and want to play for each other. Now you flip that on its head with when they went down the other end, there just seemed to be a lot of flip-flopping with what they wanted to do. And ultimately they, it felt like they didn't want to take the points to go for the losing points. You know, I sat there or sat in Croydon in Southwest London thinking, why the hell have they gone for losing bonus points at home? If that was me, we were at the swansea.com or wherever we were, I'd be fuming. If we against our biggest rivals had gone for that. And obviously it's easy to say that knowing how the game ended in Jack Welch going over. But at the time I thought, what the hell? I come back to as an organisation shot of confidence. And I don't want to rave on them again. They've got serious problems down there. I don't think that they were as good as they said that they, a lot of them think they were. And probably was their best forwards performance the season by far. You can tell there are different sides like Alex Craig, Fafita, Lousey. He didn't look fit, but he's so much better. They're such a better side with that. But then you look at our side and you think, by Christ, we were missing some names there. You know, no Morgan Morris. Morgan was, I thought, showed glimpses in that game why he's so hyped up. And then obviously, we know what happens the next game. Harry Deeves, man, that man. You can tell he's best mates with Alex, man. Because they are, do you reckon they meet up and just tackle each other so you can get the most tackle stats? I don't think they do anything else. I feel like that is the only thing they're interested in. Stealing each other's possessions. Probably through brick stones as well. That's who gets the most turnovers. And then, Alex, man, doesn't wear scrum caps. They can't really say they switch caps. Harry Deeves, man, can't tell who he is. Yeah, Harry, do you think Deeves will rock up next Friday against Perpignan without the cap? And then Alex, man, trots out if he's playing against Quince with a bright yellow cap from nowhere. Would you try something? It was, yeah, he's glorious. Any other standouts from that game for you, Easton or Robbie? Either one. I mean, the clear comparison to the thing you were saying is that Montpellier game in the Liberty. It's the same thing. Toby Booth said himself afterwards he would have kicked the goal. He wouldn't have gone for the corner, but they did it. They backed it. And clearly, it's a team that believe in each other and believe in that. And James Fender, James Fender. I think the other thing you mentioned quickly, he was absolutely exceptional. He was outstanding. And his mom was even better on Reddit somehow afterwards. Oh, Robbie and I are best friends with James Fender's mom, which is, which is the greatest honor I have ever achieved. I've got a degree and a child on the way. But I am best mates with James Fender's mom. Yeah, he was immense. Yes, you wrote a piece about, a nice little piece about Fender. Tell us a bit more about why he's slowly becoming that essential cog in that pack. It was quite a long time ago, this piece. It was the start of December. I can't exactly remember when when I published it. But yeah, you can clearly see by James Fender that he trains with Adam Beard on most days. And I think I picked out a couple of examples from the first Scarless game, where he made a ridiculously good Moore turnover, right where I was sat in the press area. And you thought, oh yeah, you can see why that person's been training with Welsh internationals on, you know, quite a lot, quite a lot through the start of his career. And then, you know, he came to work on Boxing Day, I felt. And he made a really good hit on, well, I want to say it might have been John Nicholas in the first half, which caused the terrorist opposite to be an uproar for some unknown reason, because there was nothing illegal. Oh yeah, when he hit Flo Baldemar. Yeah. It was a perfectly legal tackle, yeah. And Fender couldn't have crouched down much more. I think if he did, they would have been, he'd have been sent back a good few metres. But, his mall work is exceptional for a young second row, I feel. And, and then you've got the work rate is, I think his carrying's also very good. I think, just one new point, so if the game does open up, he's, he's another useful option to have if you want to, you know, if you want to keep it tight, either in the carry and open it up. You know, James Fender can do both those sides. I think, with the piece I wrote, I think I wrote, I mentioned more about moles, because that's what I enjoy writing about. But, but yeah, you know, he just, he just seems like, you know, a player that can easily open up and create things. And he, he did create things with that offload in the build-up to one of the breaks, I think. Yeah, it was, it was a clean break. Well, it wasn't a clean break. He's not even credited with a line break, that one, randomly. When he, when he came off the second row and, yeah, it was, I think it was after the Sharks game, that I wanted to see Fender develop a bit more of a carrying game. Because I think, I felt like, it's all great that he can hit, and he can hit runs, he can tackle, he can do all this. He can hit moles really well. But we have, arguably, three other flankers like that in, in, in Osprey, he's got little whales. And then he, he just has, and then he's had this carrying game now, and he made that break again. And, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, 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and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, 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