More #GoodPlayer? from Ospreys Eyrie

The podcast hosts discuss their week and share some personal anecdotes. They also mention their involvement in the Six Nations and their plans to record videos. They talk about a rugby player named Lewis Reece Hammett and his potential career in the NFL. They mention some rugby news, including the Ospreys' tray of the month format and the performances of the girls' under 18s team. They also discuss rumors about the Ospreys signing a French second row player. Welcome back to the Ospreys Irie podcast, the podcast who doesn't take memes on Twitter really seriously, unlike some people. Please guys, stop. It's just a really funny meme. I am James, as always, Joey and me, as it's just like clockwork, like the hairbears in the heyday of the Ospreys. It is, it is. Yes, it's been a Robbie. How are we, gents? I'm all good. Yeah, back again for another week. And yeah, I'm all good. A bit of a quiet week. But yeah, so yeah. No, I'm good. I'm good. Yes, you're missing the Duncan Jones trip. We need to build this out. We need to work. Obviously, I might just send my entire family and just go for a more hop next time. Obviously, Robbie, you've got the Adam Jones, the long, yeah, my fashion icon. Always. I'll go. I'll go. I'll go Hibbard. Yes. And then yes, then definitely be Duncan. Then we can find a Paul James to come off the bench odd weeks when we can't make it. We are Paul James. We need to find a Paul James. Ah, right. Gents, how are we? How's our week been? I mean, long, busy, you know, Six Nations. Busy time. Yeah, yeah. This is the first thing actually being recorded in the studio section of the new Squid Rugby office. Oh, in the truck towers. Yeah, yeah. Here we are. Which we have plans to record all sorts and do all sorts of test stuff for the Six Nations and bits keep getting pushed back. All the panellings, you can see all the soundproof panelling is falling off the wall. So it might, the sound quality might not be what we're hoping for. But there you go. I suppose, you know, the audio for the next video, which should be up hopefully tomorrow, maybe the day after, whatever, was recorded here as well in this very spot where I'm sitting. But but yeah, it's been a for me a busy week on Six Nations stuff and not as busy as it has been in years gone by. See, I watched your island fly half video and you'd already pre-warned us that you'd use 3.42 seconds of an Ospreys clip. But I was like, yes. I was for like representation in an island fly half video. It's my favourite thing is to cram little bits of the Ospreys and Wales women into videos where they don't fit, where there's no need for them to be in there. But I can just like slide them in and I've got a Springbok fan now watching four seconds of a URC win over the draft. Yes, to how's your week? Yeah, rather quiet. I managed to miss a Ponte Prieve game for the second time this season, which is quite the feat. And for the second time this season where I haven't gone to a game, Ponte Prieve have lost. So it probably might probably go into the next one just to see if results change. But yeah, it was a rather quiet weekend. I just watched some rugby. I wrote up a piece on the World Scotland game yesterday. And obviously, compared to Robbie's videos, it's really hard to maybe put an Ospreys reference into it. It's a little bit trickier on my end. But yeah, hoping to get maybe the odd piece out. And then university work is still always a constant. And I nearly deleted all my documents and downloads off my laptop on Tuesday, which was a little bit exciting and a little bit tense. And I don't think I can repeat what I said. But luckily, all is good. And still powering on. Yeah, I've had a week, definitely. So I am currently in the process of going on a secondment to another school for what I do, to go and sort out the department that I work in at another school. And it's very stressful. But also equally rewarding, because it's half term in three days time. And it is a long week of long week of sport. Because you've got the other 20s on Friday, I think, which would be great. We'll talk about that in a minute. And you've obviously got a big one on Saturday. And then the Super Bowl on Sunday, which is always something I try to stay up for. Because clearly, we'll be watching Lewis Reece Hammett in a couple of years. Because everyone, everyone, everyone goes, the Lewis Reece Hammett thing is really funny for a minute. Because everyone's like, he went to the NFL training camp thing, like, oh, my God, he's gonna be amazing. And everyone's like, guys, come on, you know, he's quick, but he's gonna be good. And then some photos came out. And then I was like, oh, my God, he's in pads, he's gonna be amazing. And then the house guys know. And then like, there's some videos of him catching a ball, which he's done like every day for the past six years. And I just come back up again. And it's really, it's just really funny. And I really hope he makes it. But he's clearly not packed anything but the same pair of Wales training top and shorts. Because that's all he's training in. Have you been wearing those? Yeah, he's been wearing like Wales kit. That's the next level of seeing people in old stash. Like, I love it when they cut this, like, Adam Jones is great for it. Whenever you see him in a crowd, or you see him just being, you know, walking around. He's always wearing old lion shirts, you know, his old lion's kit. I love that Lewis Reece Hammett is taking that to another sport. But there's a rock up in your P.E. kit. But there's always the stories of Sean Edwards in like, West London pubs, in like, 2013 lion's track suits. And it's like, it's 2018. Or I know it was in 1990. So yeah, that's great. They all still use their kit bags. It's great. Old stash fighting is fantastic. Oh, right. News. There's no news again. There is in the words of Gareth Thomas, rumours. We've all got rumours. Yes, we'll talk about rumours. Yeah, who's your sources? Tell me your sources. So I made that joke in the main chat for RAP on Saturday. And I was walking to rugby and for my game, I said that, that, like, we've all got sources. Tell me your sources. And the photo of Gareth Thomas in that horrible, horrible chicken curry jacket he's got on. And with Eddie Butler. And no one laughed. Jamie just thought I was spelling sources wrong. I was like, you're older than me. How can you be the same culture? Tell me your source. But before we, before we do do that and go on to the rumour mill, we have actually got a new tray of the month format the Ospreys have put out. I don't know if anyone watched this video, but they've done it across all of the teams that the Ospreys have put out. So the regional age grade under 18s, the girls under 18s, and the senior team. And if you want to watch it, it's two minutes of glorious, glorious running rugby. Or sorry, sorry, sorry, forward nominated drive over all tries that we, you know, there's not definitely the filthiest goose step by Hannah Marshall, future Wales captain and 10, who is now my new favourite player, or number eight, Georgia, I don't know, who just cuts through like, eight defenders in a Morgan Morse-esque run. But no, no, no, no, we still, we still push over tries. I enjoyed the one pass in that video. So it's, yeah, so that's good. Go watch that. Go vote for your tray of the month. I mean, Morgan Morse is going to win it because that man literally could win anything. And, but what's also scary is we played Cardiff on January 1st, and that January's lasted about six months. So yeah, other news. We, the girls finished their under 18s campaign this weekend with a win over RGC. Really, you know, it's been a mixed bag for them. RGC, the other RGC to dominate that league, but some, some really good performances. Hannah Marshall, Georgia, I don't know, picking up a hat trick in one game. So the future is looking bright. And we know Lance Bradley is looking at that as a, as a future avenue for the Australians and how many women's teams are having a strong under 18s sort of set up for the women is just going to aid us in the future. As we, as we record right now, the under 18s are in their final game against the Scarletts. They're currently losing 15-0. This is a good Scarlett side. That's not, they're very good. All right, come on, let's talk about the rumour mill. I don't want to talk about some of these or one of them in particular. So Robbie, before we talk about the one that's going around Twitter, do you want to talk to us about what you put in our group chat? And I still haven't found your sources. It's, yeah, Carbonara. No, so if you poke around enough of the internet, which I have had, I had a script of proofread yesterday. And so I did some procrastinating and start poking around and came across the rumour that the Ospreys have apparently signed or are close to signing a French Brodé de Welsh qualified, or Welsh heritage was the phrase used, second row, which is one of my favourite combinations of people, but I can think of nobody who fits that bill. That is exactly everything I look for in a person. You're French second row, but you're Welsh qualified. You've played in the Brodé so you're essentially blind and intolerant to pain. And you've signed for the Ospreys. Yeah, he's really into the Mission Impossible films is the one thing on my checklist I'm missing. Yeah. And they could be, they could be. Might be a big Ethan Hunt film. You never know. So that's an interesting one. The interest to see why we've signed a second row. It is an area where we've had points of the season where it's looked like we couldn't. We had James Ratty in the last game against the Lions, came and had to slot in. With James Fender getting injured, you know, there's talk that he could have been in the Welsh squad. Apparently, again, a further rumour that Gatlin told him he would have been in if not for the injury picked up against Perpignan. If you've got him, Beard and potentially even Rhys Davies all making Welsh squads, suddenly that starts to look slightly light on the ground. If, you know, especially if you start to pick up an injury such as he has so far, suddenly during those international periods, and there will be more of them next season, suddenly it starts to become a bit of an issue. So bringing in a second row who is perhaps more experienced, if experienced in gouging as well, is not a bad thing. In vehicular homicide is what your cup of tea is. That's exactly why we brought him in. It does suggest that they see Ratty as a long-term back-rower than they do, which I think a lot of people have said anyway, he is a long-term back-rower. And I think he was quietly good over Christmas, played at six, obviously slotted in the Lions game. So maybe a Hugh Sutton is off. I quite like Hugh Sutton. But yeah, so that's an interesting one. The more public one is Stephen Thomas, cousin of Gareth Thomas, Osprey's loose head, has been linked with, or is on the verge of signing with the Ospreys. This is what was reported. Thomas's Scarlet contract expires at the end of the current season. The 26-year-old is expected to make a short journey across the bridge. He's a former Wales under-20s prop and is a solid performer, but is behind Wynne Jones and Kemsley Mattress in the pecking order. Should he put pen to paper, he'll be reunited with Gareth Thomas. The Ospreys also have destructive scrimmager Nicky Smith on their books. Even though the experienced Wales international recently signed a new long-term deal, it's understood he has a breakout clause and is wanted by English clubs and French clubs. Now, there are two things in that. I was under the impression that Nicky Smith signed a short-ish term deal. It was a one or two-year deal is what I was told. So, long-term is news to me. Does it hint at Nicky being off? No, because where the next rumour comes in is that there are two parts to this deal. Stephen Thomas comes to us, and I say this with a heavy heart, the rumour is Rhys Henry is going the other way to the Scarlets. Now, we should all take a minute to process this. I know phones have just been dropped around the south-west Wales area, and a couple of listings we have in England. Rhys Henry may be off to the Scarlets. Now, what do you think of that deal? If we get Stephen Thomas, they get Rhys Henry. Putting aside our love for Big Sexy, what is your genuine Rugby Norse thoughts on this deal? Obviously, on the point of versatility, it is not the greatest of moves, as obviously you see Rhys Henry can play both sides of the scrum, and obviously with budget cuts, you think off, maybe that might be someone you probably want to keep as an option that can scrummage that loose head and tight dead. I think Stephen Thomas would be a good move. It would be very interesting to see how he would work under Toby Booth and Duncan Jones, but I think the situation that Rhys Henry has got himself in at the minute, whilst he has the versatility trait to him by playing at both sides, I think Gareth Phillips and Ben Warren have both quietly gone ahead of him in the pecking order in some way. It just quietly happened overnight. Obviously, against the Lions, you saw that Henry was starting as loose head, but then when you have seen games where Henry had been covering tight dead, you have maybe seen Warren on the bench. With the budget cuts and everything, it is probably coming along in the next couple of months. You probably want to keep someone like Rhys Henry, mainly because of his ability, but it is probably a kick in the teeth for his supporters the year that he has gone down west, especially after singing Jailhouse Rock at Welford Road. Then again, Steph Thomas seems like an okay player. He has a lot of experience in regional rugby. With someone like Toby Booth and Duncan Jones, he could really develop his game. Let us not forget that we have two current props in the under-20s at the minute—Fred Chapman and Cian Hyer. Fred Chapman at loose head changed the game against Scotland on Friday. The Romford Bull, as he is affectionately known... Oh my God, I am sorry, I was afraid I just called an absolute will-be in the corner. Was it from four metres driving over? No, it was a lovely back swing. Charlie Thomas was orchestrating great. I always come back to Charlie Thomas. I instantly thought of your Rhys Patcher analogy, Robbie, with the guitar. That is what Charlie Thomas did. There are filthy offloads. A great pushover try. We have Fred Chapman, the Romford Bull, who looks the raw deal. And actually, we will do this in the specials later, but Dragonfire, a good listener of the pod, said he is a bit raw, but he has got the physical attributes. That is what Duncan Jones likes. He can morph him into this lucid that we need. I think the interesting thing on this is, if we tend to look at a second row and a loose head, the easy thing to look at it is to go, those are the positions we are losing. But actually, is it just the case that those are the positions which lose the most players to the Welsh squad? If we are losing multiple second rows and multiple loose heads, pretty much every Welsh squad that is picked, is it just looking to reinforce that? At the same time, there is many more. The big issue here is the depth of loose head is much stronger than the depth of tight head, where you have got Tom Bosa, then you have got Rhys Henry, and you have got Ben Warren, who are both good players, both URC standard players. Whereas at loose head, you have got two proper internationals in Nicky Smith and Gareth Thomas. You then drop down to Garen Phillips, who is a solid URC player, and then you have got Cameron Jones, as you say, Freddie Chapman coming in behind. All good players. Cameron Jones obviously had that one break in South Africa that will never be forgotten. He is coming solidly as well. For a debut of a young kid out in South Africa against Springboks, not bad at all. The other angle on this though, I think, in terms of signing Steph Thomas as Gareth Thomas's cousin, and the other player being linked to in Wales Online publicly was Kieran Hardy, right, who is of course Luke Davies' cousin. Is this just the approach? We are going to keep signing cousins. Just keep bringing them in. Bring in everyone's cousins. A, I've risked desperation and they are just going to go to Tipperary and be like, have you got a cousin? Please, please tell us you have got a cousin. The other angle, right, is the best signing we could possibly now make is Carwyn Tuapalotu. Not because we are getting Carwyn Tuapalotu, right, but because if we are keeping to our signing cousin, I don't know, Palupe Faletau, Maka Vanapola, Billy Vanapola, which, you know, whatever. But more importantly, when this women's team gets up and going, right, Cecilia Tuapalotu and her sister who is currently in the Dragons under-17s. Yes, please. I think that is the angle. That's what I want. I want this strategy to continue and us to recruit tactically for the players best in the, like, having connection nexuses of good cousins. Yes. Who else's cousins I can think of? I mean, if Gerry Collins were still here, we'd get Tanner Umanga. That would be a solid start. But then we could also get Jacob Umanga. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He can hold the tackle bag to Jack Walsh. On a serious note though, there's a lot being made about Steph Thomas' big name signing, right. When we sign, when Toby Boots came in, he makes a big point about this, is Gareth Thomas was fourth choice loose head at the Ospreys. He's now a guaranteed starter for Wales. That's, you know, that's what him and Duncan Jones do. Go on. No, if I was a Welsh qualified prop at any of the other regions, I would be looking to sign for the Ospreys having seen what they've done for a number of players who, you know, I don't think Rhys Henry or Gareth Thomas or half the players you mentioned would have kicked on in the same way without Duncan Jones and without Toby Boots coaching. I think the way they've developed front row forwards has been incredible. And if I was in that position, I want to further my own career and further myself as a player, I'd be looking to sign there. I, I, that's why I, I, I'd love if, if they hadn't said, could we look at like a Haserati or like a Domichos? What we need is a Gnarly non-Welsh qualified type. That's what what that is a priority for me. And actually, if you're going to link in to a listener's question, where are we? So this comes in from, so first off, we've got the DAV, DAV at least is a bit more set on signing. It's not going to set the world on fire, but it's not a bad signing by any means. Any suggestions on getting centres in? Centre seems to be the fan consensus on what we should be getting in. So at the minute, centres on the books. Yes, you can help me on this. Obviously, Keith Owen. Clear Morgan. He's a winger. He's a winger. He's a winger, is he? Yeah, I didn't, I didn't get that. Tom Florence. Yeah. Who can play wing, but he's a centre. In terms of natural centres, that's it. Yeah. North is leaving. Don Morris is a one-year loan. So that is it. Luke Scully is now a Test 13. We do know this, because when he folded Malachi So, yeah, so there is something probably we do need to get in. And I do like, I do like the under-18s. Obviously, the under-18s is a big step. There's some good players in there. Oh, my God, they're in to do with Jack Morgan. Oh, wow. Oh, you know, it's this old. Yeah, I've been ground. Yeah. I can pay to get in. It's like, you know, literally, do you know who I am? He doesn't pay for anything out there in the last year. He probably did their electricity. He's an electrician or like a plumber. Yeah, he did an apprenticeship, didn't he? He just did their floodlights or something. That could be my rent for the year. Do you think that's what him and Toby Booth, why they're drawn to each other? Oh, yeah. Do you think that's what they talk about, both former parties? Do you reckon that's why he's so eager to announce him as that dragon? He was just so excited that Toby Booth, he was getting his switchboards redone. Oh, well, at least it'll save costs. And when we build the new stadium, Jack Morgan will be doing the elections. Oh, this has gone off tangent. This is how they save the budget. This is how they save money in Welsh rugby. We get some players to do all the circuitry. We're going to have James Ratty install the floodlights. No, they just lift Adam Beard up. Yeah. They change the lights in the floodlights. Right. So, going back to it, centres. What centres are out there that we can afford? Because it's not like a few years ago where we could be like, oh, genuinely we could be linked with this person. It's a case of now it's like, are you a centre? Do you want a contract? We've got to be smart in who we recruit. Regionally, I don't think there are any Welsh centres in the region. So, I think we'd be looking at it and be like, yeah, this is who we want. I would go for, assuming he's not signed a new contract recently, I'm not sure of his current contract situation, I'd be an Iron Owen. I feel like he hasn't quite had the chance to kick on, partly injury-enforced, partly just not having the opportunities, partly being in quite a poor Dragons team a lot of the time. But I really like him. I'm such a fan of him at his 20s level. I think every time he plays in the Dragons he's so solid. Whenever you hear him talk, whenever you see him interviewed, he's a massive Conrad Smith aficionado. He's really defensively sound, really smart. We could have an Iron Owen, Owen Watkin kind of combination. They could merge into one. I was also always drawn towards him because he sounds a bit like, since my surname being Owen, I'm being a big fan of the founding of the NHS. I probably would name it after one of my favourite, it's sort of a merging of two members of my favourite group of people, which is Welsh socialists, and Iron Bevan and Robert Owen, who I was only semi-named after. But yeah, look, he'd be the guy I'd go for. But as you say, the ground feel is pretty thin in terms of regional players. I'm looking in the Prem as well, so I had a look. I think he has signed a new dealer who I like and would probably be a bit cheap. It's James Williams of Bristol, who's quite good, or good for that level. He's never going to be an England player. Someone we would have signed, absolutely, would have been like a Pierce Francis. We would have signed a Pierce Francis a couple of years ago. Sorry, we have actually just scored a Moore pushover try. So it's now 10 points to 21 with a kick to come, so it could be on. But yeah, it's now 10. We did score from the 22, a Moore pushover try, so we're back to the DNA. Anyway, sorry, centres. Yeskin, do you think centres are priority for us? I think it would be a really nice luxury just to get one in, in terms of depth as well, because Owen Watkin and Kieran Williams can't play forever, and obviously losing George Northy, thinking, well, we're a little bit light on the ground. So hopefully Tom Florence comes back from injury some point soon. It would be really nice to see Don Morris return some point soon, obviously in terms of the short term. I have a personal new friend, don't I? My new best mate. A big fan of the pod, Morgan Morris. I think he plays rugby as well. I think he's just a little bit. Jonah Loomis rugby, he loves that. Yeah, big Jonah Loomis rugby fan, has a very cute dog. So for context, right, people think I'm making this up. So Osprey's put out a video the other day of the players messing around with the film cameras in the gym. And I don't think what people realised is, that's the injured players on rehab. And it looked like a full training session, because it's like Rhys Davies, Tipperick, Hugh Sutton, Fender, Nicky, Jack, literally, that's like a Wales camp, essentially. And I was like, that is literally the injured crew. And then so I get a message from my, bear in mind it's at ten to one in the morning, he messages me, Morgan, what were you doing? Go to sleep. He messages me, my personal friend, Morgan Morris says, good injured crew too. So immediately I'm like, I text the boys the next day, I'm like, I'm screaming. But I said his injury club been, you know, becoming a bit smaller, at least. And he's like, hopefully be a few returns to the Ulster game. I want to, if we're going off timeframes of injuries, we could be seeing like Rhys Davies, Will Griff, Morgan Morris, I think Toby Fricker, maybe Don Morris, Justin Tipperick, the scope for these boys to be back in the frame, which is like, oh, hello. And hopefully we'll get like an Owen Watkin back for the Ulster game, because I can't see him being involved. Going forward, if North is fully fit, where does Owen Watkin fit? Anyway, that's a different, that's a discussion for later. Anywhere, any other positions where we think we might need a player? Just four in the centres that's come to me since. Louis Hennessy and Bryn Bradley, the starting centres. Bryn Bradley I'm a big fan of. Both really good. So I play rugby with a senior academy analyst, Quinn's. Oh, wow. Very nice guy, Alex, but he raves about Bryn Bradley. Very, very talented player. Actually, I think Dan Edwards Dan Edwards plays and looks better when he has Bryn Bradley outside him. Touch of the Joe Hawkins, like clearly a really great rugby brain and big lad. And they're at Bath and Quinn's respectively. I believe Hennessy's played maybe two games. I think Bryn Bradley played in the Premiership Cup. I haven't played much since then. But they both made senior debuts but aren't regular starters at Quinn's by any, or Bath by any stretch. They might be possible attempt over and both of their feelings seem pretty high. In terms of other positions, I just sort of take what would come to be honest, because we don't know what departures we're going to have. We'll just in the Tipperary corner today, we've got Harry Deeves, we've got cover there. In terms of eights, we're sort of set with Morgan Morris and Morgan Morse, six. So I'll just sort of take what comes to be honest. That's the rumour mill. Should we talk about, do we have to talk about Wales? I don't think so. I don't know. I feel like a lot of people have done it, you know. I've written the piece and watched the game back again. And I've just parked out to my thoughts for the last day or so. So from an osprey point of view, Owen Watkin, I will maintain, and I said this on the rap pod and I said this on Twitter, he was a victim of the system that Wales played in the first half, right? Sam Costello passed the ball like eight times in his time on the field, right? None of them were to Watkin, I can tell you that. They were all Tompkins. Scotland didn't really attack very wide. So he didn't make many tackles. They attacked the Penn Channel, which we knew they would, because why would you not attack Sam Costello? And Sam Costello is a good defender. So, so it's, yeah, it's, what more do you want, do you want to say? You know, like, ospreys boys did their jobs. Adam Beard, I thought had a fine game, led the team well. Jim Bowtham's try doesn't happen if Beard's not drowning that ball. So yeah, great. My, so I think if you swapped Beard and Jenkins around, people would be, and had the exact performances otherwise that each one had, people would be raving about how well Beard played, Jenkins played, but really angry wanting Adam Beard to be dropped desperately. Because I thought there was sort of, there was a sequence of errors early on in a row from Jenkins that he then put right. And, you know, really great to see him do that in his first game as captain. And you could, but you kind of see a bit early on that the nerves getting to him, maybe, and a couple of like fairly uncharacteristic errors. I thought Adam Beard, the game went on, had a really quietly good game. In terms of that way, he's, you know, one of the things that, look, everyone in the school recognises, not enough people do, how good he is in wide channels and how good a distributor he is. And there's a few touches of that, plus the line out stuff that you mentioned. He regularly has like the third most passes in an Osprey jersey, like behind the scrum half and the fly half. It's Adam Beard with like 11 passes. And then he doesn't carry enough yet because he's putting Jack Morgan into a hole or he's pulling back a lovely pass, like how the hole of the Zanis try in Scotland 2021. I mean, he has a defined job in the field. He's also a leader. He's a Test match animal. He's a lion, you know, he's all these things. I thought he was going to drop for this game. I genuinely thought you were. But he's in, great. And, you know, Gareth Thomas walks back into that squad. I think that was, no one's angry about that. Don Maturis, he can't do another 18 minutes. And Kemsie Matrus certainly won't play in. Then you've got North who's always going to walk back into that squad as well. These are not, these are not like, what's the word? Controversial picks. It's harsh on Teddy Williams. Absolutely. Teddy Williams is an absolute talent, right? But he's also a very lightweight second row who's been playing in a pack that's very lightweight and has struggled all season. So let's temper expectations with Teddy Williams. I personally think he's a long term six. I think he's literally Tom Croft with a kind of accent. That's the player he reminds me of, is Tom Croft. But anyway, so Wales Senior men's, cool. That happened. That was a game. There's no point talking about it. We've got no players in the bloody squad. Where we do have players in the squad who make a difference is in the twenties. Did everyone watch that game? Yeah. God, Morgan Morse is a bit good, isn't he? He's all right. I'd be scared, like, you walked in, you know, obviously I'd be scared if he came around the corner of that pace, right, at a rack. You had to walk in the same corridor as him. Was he scary then? No, he's probably a really nice person outside of the rugby field. He's really quiet, which is like, you see everything he does on the rugby field and then you go up and speak to him and he's really quiet and you're thinking, how can you do all that chaos and then be ridiculously quiet off the field? But really nice as well. And yeah, you know, we saw the break he made in the first half with the offload to De La Rua and then obviously running at that pace for that line for his try and you're thinking, oof, he does look a little bit good. And you could really tell with the under-20s that the players that have been on the regional stage, they showed it as well, because obviously, I mean, it's in the name drop, Morse and De La Rua, I thought, played well and Harry Ackerman played well and those three have had quite a lot of exposure to the regional game and, you know, you could clearly see there was a bit of a difference. And then, obviously, Freddie Chapman came on in the second half and had a good showing in the scrum and Roderick Lewis scored a try, which he replied to me saying the bounce of the ball was a little bit sketchy as he was waiting for it to bounce up kindly, but he managed to get over the line, which was good. He followed us on Twitter just before this pod started and I was going to ask him and say, do you have any embarrassing stories about yesterday, which I might do still. Um, yeah. The point you make about the players having played regional rugby, I think is a huge difference, but I just found the thing, I had this up during the last Junior World Cup and didn't end up doing anything with it, but Wales had at the Junior World Cup in June, July, four players who had played senior rugby in Ryan Woodman, Tom Florence, RTQs and Cam Winnett. They played 11 games between them, three starts, right. Versus Baptiste Genot when they played against France, who played 32 games of professional rugby with 13 starts. So you had basically that entire France team playing in the Prodida, that really showed, you know, they were coming through earlier, they developed much more and they went on to win the thing. Likewise, Ireland have a really solid setup where all those players are training. A number of them have played with Leinster and Connell and so on. And at least they were playing, you know, they had these really good structures in place. We're starting to see more of that coming on. And Morgan Morse is, I would say, a very noticeable better player now than he was last summer. And a better player than he was when he started playing for the Ospreys in sort of November time. The way he doesn't, there were periods last June, you know, where he was really great and he had really great touches and he kind of fade out the game for a while. His work rate's gone up enormously. Yes, I was about to say this. Yeah, fitness, his sheer like, I think a lot of it is confidence has gone up enormously. And he now on Friday looked so up for it. He looked so eager to carry every single ball available, where sometimes we'd see him before, kind of disappear after making a big carry for a bit. And that is not happening anymore. He's come on so far so fast, and he's continued to develop. And I think actually playing for the under 20s at this level, where he is going to shine a little bit more, he's going to be really good for him. So there's a great interview this week with Henry Pollock, the Northampton Saints flanker who scored a hat-trick for England in the 20s on Friday. And he said to me, he was a very good player. And he talks about not wanting to be a highlight reel player. Morgan Moore's last summer felt a bit highlight really. He felt a bit ready data in that sense, in that he was great, and he's great for them interceptions against Japan, or he's great for X, Y, Z, whatever. But what he didn't have was the nuts and bolts of his game. He wasn't making 16, 17 tackles a game, or he didn't feel like he was. He didn't feel like he was doing the little bits around the field, the nuggety bits that you see Morgan Morris do, or you see like what James King used to do around the field, because he played a lot of his rugby at eight, but he wasn't flashy or, you know, things like that. So, but you look at him this season, you look at the games, the Cardiff game, yes, you could highlight reel stuff, but just the nuts and bolts of his game are so, so much better. And like you said, Robbie, it just shows that he's not just there for the big carry anymore. He's there for the, I'll truck it up two meters and go down so we can set a quick ball or something like that. He's got so much, um, so much better at the little things. So, so yeah, and it's the same with De La Rua as well, who I really, who I really rate. I think he's probably, he's a season behind Morse, I think, um, in terms of his, he's younger than Morse, and Morse is about, in, in under 20s, De La Rua is like an elder statesman. De La Rua is very, he was probably under 18 last year, yesterday. You could, you could, I think he's under 18s. I think so, yeah. He's 19 years old, so yeah. Yeah. So he was playing for the under 18s. Um, yeah, brilliant, brilliant, um, brilliant prospect. Um, Roger Lewis, he came on, I thought he was very lively. He's, for that, I think for what, Wales under 20s a player, in terms of their game plan, he's the perfect bench player because he comes on, he's just a live wire. Um, he's just come back from a long-term injury yesterday. Um, I can't remember for sure. Um, it was, um, I remember last season he picked up a really nasty, um, injury, which ruled him out for some time. I think he just, just kept on having little nickels here and there as he was coming back, coming back in and having a small injury, which ruled him out for a couple of weeks. I think that was like the, the process for him for like, over the last season. But I think he's just come back from, I can't remember what sort of injury he had now. Um, but I think he had a few weeks off and, um, and obviously there's, I think that was his first game back for, for this year, definitely. Um, then you've also got Freddie Chapman, who we've talked about already key and higher, who I'm not sure if it's an injury actually, but he's not in the squad for this. A lot has been said about key and higher. He's a big boy was a big part of that rock stars documentary. The weird, I think it was fever dream. Um, but he was a part of that. Um, yeah, so there you go. Um, yeah, so there's, there's plenty of reasons to be excited as an Ospreys fan, because in, in the nuts and bolts positions, we've got some very, very good players. And obviously we've already had that Edwards in that sector. Um, yeah, so, so let's, you know, be excited about that. She played good player. Oh, I thought you never asked. So obviously we, we were quite worried, but they asked her that last week because it was just good player. And initially the downloads are a bit low and then we just get in tweets saying, please never stop playing good player is like the highlights of my week. So, um, we're going to take a player. Um, and we have chosen this week in tribute to, uh, Ospreys developing 66% of the England back row on Saturday, uh, with, uh, Ethan roots is man of the match debut for England against Italy. Um, and, uh, and then you also have, um, uh, and then you also have Sam Underhill who obviously spent time in Austria. So we're going to look at Ospreys versus Claremont in 2016. Um, so then a contest is obviously a champions cup game is the Liberty stadium as it was known. Um, just before I said the Ospreys have gone down 40 points to 10, the Scarlet's obviously when the regional age great championship, very, very good Scarlet's team. These, these boys will go very, very well. And this is a very young Osprey side. They will bounce back. They lost a lot of players at the end of last year when they, um, uh, when they, when they won the league last year. Uh, so be proud of these boys. Um, uh, anyway, so for the context of this was, uh, Ospreys versus Claremont. This was the reverse fixture, I believe, uh, 745 kickoff Friday night under the light. So let's go through the team. So do you want to start with Claremont or Ospreys? Oh, Claremont, Claremont. Okay. So 15, Scott Spedding, Fat Fulberg. I always fascinated by Scott Spedding. I once said, I don't think I've got to use this in a video that Scott Spedding is exactly what would happen if you taught a donkey to play rugby. Yeah. In the, you know, look, it will create, it will cause breaks. There will be breaks. It can kick the ball miles, not solid under the high ball though. Technique is a bit off. Um, yeah, Scott Spedding, South African French fullback. Uh, 14, David Strattle. Good player, good player. Would have been quite old at this point, I think, wouldn't it? Yeah. Good at Saracen. I liked him at Saracen a lot. Um, 13, you'll know him. You, you, you, you, Jonathan Davis. Oh, this was that weird period where British and Irish players would go to France for a year, realize they hate it and come back. Because this was obviously, uh, this wasn't Dan Lyddiot. Was this Dan Lyddiot era rafting? He joined before that. When you add Lydiot, Roberts, um, Mike Phillips is up there. I'll always remember from the Twith 13 Lions Raw, uh, DVD, when Jamie Roberts is weirdly performing with the Manic Street Preachers in Australia, uh, they, they introduced him as, uh, Wales centre, played for Racing Metro. You couldn't be left of a rugby fan if you tried. So Jonathan Davis. Yeah. Good player. Good player. Good player, man. I missed that Foxy. God, it's a shame where he is now. Um, oh, 12. Wesley Fofana. No, now we're talking. Now we're talking French player for use was Wesley Fofana. So good. I remember that try, like the back of my mind where he just skins Ashton. Oh, it's so good. So good. Just like, cause he kind of burst through, um, a few years before this playing for Claremont where he was scoring in every single game. Then France put him in and he scored every game in the six nations. And he was so good. Imagine him in the current France team. Imagine what he could have done. Oh, hello. Hello. One of the most Claremont players ever as well. Like in the way Claremont or a team who always have a play, who kind of embodies them, you know, a rouger is that for a very long time. He was that, uh, for it was Damien Peno for a while. And now you kind of look at them and they, they feel like they're lacking that players, you know, could go on to become that, but yeah. What a player, man. So fast. So like agile, so capable of making breaks in places where there weren't any opportunities to do so loved him. Uh, uh, winger you have Norris. Oh yeah. No, no. Good player. Good player. Slightly mad when they had him on the wings. France, that was chaotic. Um, had a brilliant game against England on that famous super Saturday was it? 2019, 2015. Um, where, you know, Wales, England, Ireland could all win the championship and England were battering France and looking on track for points difference. Then he steps up and I think creates one, try and scores another and just sort of looked oblivious to the fact that he was getting battered. He was good fun. Uh, really good fun. Then this is, this is the claim on to win fly half and swim half partnership. Yes. And can you, can you remember what it is or who it was? I want to say something a little better time that night. Yes. Good player. Good player. And it's a claim on sides. And if it's a claim on side of Morgan power, then is it really a claim on the side? Oh yes. And Morgan power. Oh no. Good player. That is, that is honestly like the, so, so obviously, so for content, this was the era where every week, no matter what game, like they could be showing like a funeral in Claremont and it would be like, yeah, but Claremont also failed to win the champions cup. This was that era where they just could not stop. Um, like talking about how Claremont just couldn't win anything, but they had this mental home record. But yeah, they went something like 80 games and beaten at home, something insane. And then eventually lost it. But it was a period where Claremont were possibly the best team in Europe, but they bottled every final they played in. Yeah, pretty much. And, and, and that's, yeah, that's what that this team will ultimately be remembered for. So we move into the pack then. So we've got Raphael Shaumet. Don't remember him. I'm not going to lie, neither do I. So I'm just going to say he was a player. Um, Benjamin Kaiser. Good player. Good player. Good pundit as well. Makes ITV bearable at times. Uh, Louis, uh, Louis Jacques. Oh, no, sorry. Daniel Kurtzer at three. Again, sort of have a memory of? Yeah, he was all right. As I remember, you know, fine, perfectly fine player. Was Aaron Jarvis at Claremont at this time? I think it was before, wasn't it? I think you'd have to check the Ospreys team to find where Aaron Jarvis is. No, he's not. He's not in, he's not in the Ospreys team, but he was at weirdly at Claremont and was, but not weirdly at Claremont because he was very good at Claremont. This was the, like, everyone's like, oh my God, why is he at like, why is he at Claremont? If he went out and came back, I can't, there's a couple of seasons. Anyway, so then we ended up in IRR. Yeah. So we've got Louis Jacques or Jacques, Louis Jacques, who doesn't matter because there's only one man in the second row who matters. And who is that? It's Sebastian Varamina. Oh, hello. That explains why it was all penalties on the night. For reference, we won 21-13, kicking seven, seven penalties. Six penalties and a Sam Davis drop goal because he was contractually obliged to at the time. So yeah, Varamina, I'd be interested to see what his penalty stats on the night were. Who refs this game, by the way? Because this is important for later. Oh, no, I remember this well. This is important for later. Good ref. Good ref, another wrinkle to the game. Good ref. At six, Daniel Shuley. How many France caps does he have? So many, like 40-odd, like 45 caps. I've even thought he's six caps, if I'm to guess. Damien Shuley was one of these, he just, he would turn invisible for long stretches. He was a fascinating player because he was great for Clermont. Then you put him in a France shirt and one in five games he'd be good. The other four, you wouldn't know he played those games. Hence why you'd probably think he had about a quarter of the caps he did. He had 46 caps. That was exactly the number I said. He also only stopped playing in 2022 when he was 36. Wow. Probably did. Did he drop down? No, for, well, Perpignan, so that might have been in 2022. So he started off his career at Brie, made 50 appearances. That's quite good. Then it was at Perpignan, 139. You're like, okay, big journeyman. 160 at Clermont during 2012 to 2019. And then went back to Perpignan. Wow. But he won two top 14s, one with Perpignan, one with Clermont. But he's just a good player, like a really good player. But one of them ones who you don't remember, he literally, I noticed that. When I read that name, I was like, oh my God, I haven't heard that in a while. Number seven, this is where I said it was going to be important for later, Victor Collier-Schillie. Yeah. So for those who don't know, good player, but put a yellow card in during this game. Yes, do you want to talk us through this? So the Ospreys on the attack are in just, let's say, the 22. And this Georgian flanker thinks it's a really good idea to push Wayne Barnes out the way when the ball is about to come out of a breakdown, which Barnes gives a really stern word to him to say, don't do it again. I think he got Sinbin later on in the evening. Well, he got Sinbin on 25 minutes, which is earlier than I remember. Because I thought he might have come back and pushed the referee. I can't remember. I think that might have been it. He might, I think it was, it would be a second yellow, so it'd be off for a red card. But it is the thing he is best remembered for is pushing Wayne Barnes. He was a great but incredibly dirty player for Georgia for a long time. And then at age, who was at age during this time with Claremont, since about 1972, he's been at age for Claremont. Who is that? Is he still there in terms of Fritz Lee? It is Fritz Lee, yes. How old is Fritz Lee now? I bet he's like... 38, I'd say, I'd guess. 35, he's younger than I thought. Does he still play then? He is still playing, still at Claremont. Wow. Remember when he got, yeah, because he got, he played for, he finally gave in and played for Samoa like last year, like 2022. 2022, yeah. Yeah, he's still going. Yeah, he played against Lyon last weekend. 80 minutes as well. He's played 232 games for them. Like, that is, oh, he's a good, like, really good player. A fantastic player. Vastly underrated. Very. In a time where we had, like, good number eights in the world, like this, obviously, you had, like, Pete Dwayne Vermeulen, Kieran Reid was a knockout at this point, this was the European World Cup, so he was very good. Like, Fritz Lee was, like, consistently up there. So then we move on to the bench, which still has some very good players. You have Jean Alugier, that hooker who did get submitted as well, don't remember him, Vincent Dabati. Oh, good player. Good player, Vincent Dabati. Yeah. Michael Simitoga. Vague memory. He didn't even get on, so clearly not very good, because Daniel Coates had played the full game. A player who I really liked, Paul Dziadziak. Good player. I really liked Paul Dziadziak. He had one of them names, I was like, oh, I like you. We need more of that. They've kind of become, no, no, they haven't become a dying breed, they're all in the pro de da. But that, like, genre of French locks whose skill set, if you had to write, like, a resume of things in rugby they're good at, it would just say, bastard. Like, they are just, they are just nasty. So Paul Dziadziak still plays. He has 10 appearances for France, somehow. He's only 30. Oh, wow, okay. Which is younger than I thought. Which is, yeah, which is a lot, I thought he was older. Anyway, from there you have Kamil Gawandot. I don't remember him. I don't remember. Clemon, hate me. So, Skromháfia, Ljudevic, Radovac. Oh, good player. Oh, he was great. Could play 10 as well. Kicks goals, was a bit chaotic. Yeah, he was great. I was a big fan of that guy. He only got five minutes in this game. Maybe that's why they lost. At replacement fly half, it's the glove man. It's Brock James. Former ultimate attack coach. Former, well, allegedly. There wasn't much attacking there. He was attacking my eyes. Brock James, good player, though. Really good player. Good player. He was a climb up for you. Obviously, how did he get straight to... Because he was Brock... Did you have a brief spell of Larry Shalob? I just made that up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think he did, yeah. Kind of as Larry Shalob. No one's updated his Wikipedia. Because it still says he's our attack coach. But he made a debut. I'm really glad of that. Can you imagine being someone who had nothing better to do than check if Brock James' Wikipedia is up to date? I'm glad no one is at that big a loose end. So first off, I forgot he's Australian, not Kiwi. Because he... So he made his debut for Taranaki. And then he made eight appearances over two years before going to Claremont and playing 289 times for Claremont. What a player he was. Like, that is brilliant. In, weirdly, two spells. He's there from 2006 to 2016. And then 2016 to 2018. Which is then he has a further 51 appearances. So I don't know what happened. So he's played over 300 games. Then, weirdly, he has 23 games for La Rochelle and six games for Bordeaux before going back to La Rochelle, but I think not playing. Never had a cap for Australia. No. One of those that would sometimes get brought up is, should we bend the laws and allow him in? Should we find a way to get those laws him through? And then at 23 rounds, the score is Albert Vulli Vulli. Good player. Great player. Forgot about him. Why did I forget about him? He's the sort of player I did that 2011 retrospective podcast purely to try and remember. He, yeah, spent his entire time in, played like 10 games for the Reds and then sort of like bounced around the top 14, 16 caps for Fiji. Sort of like, yeah, you're like, oh, good player. But then, like, you forget he existed. Won the top 14 once. Wow. So that was a Clermont side this day. So obviously a very ill-disciplined Clermont side, as they all were at the time. This Clermont team obviously broke the trend of French teams don't take good teams away. Obviously bringing their full lineup, which, you know, sort of dispelled the myth a bit. So let's move on to the Ospreys team this day. Oh no, Aaron Jarvis was in the Ospreys team this time, sorry. I looked at the wrong thing. So I think he went the season after this. This was his audition for Clermont, I think. So, 15. Who was at 15? If anyone knows who was at 15 this time. It's like the same with Morgan Parra at Clermont. It's like Dan Evans is always at 15. Dan Evans was at 15. He didn't miss a game for two years. Maybe after the Bordeaux one, that season where he was there. He didn't? Sam Davies played 13 in that game, didn't he? Yes. Because I believe that Bordeaux game is part of the limited club, which is another thing we'll do on the podcast. The games where Tipperick played 13. Yeah. That Bordeaux game, there was one out in Munster when I was there in Tyrone Park. And I think there's maybe one other where Tipperick played 13. So, what did happen at Tyrone Park with Tipperick? He got off to Hasler. Every week. Every week. Every week. I recommend the film on Viaplane. You bring up that try. Oh, my God. He's cut off to Hasler. Do you reckon they do that when they're, like, getting shopping or something? Jeff Hasler's wife will just get up and ready to start the video and she's like, passing him the bread. And it's like, oh, my God. She's got off to Hasler. I love it. I absolutely love it. So, yeah, 15. Dan Evans, good player. We've established this. Good player. Freaky. So, what was it? Right. Without looking, how many points do you think he scored for the Ospreys? So, there'd be, I think there's maybe, like, two conversions in there. So, it won't be divisible by five. Right. His, I can't use his. When did he? No, he didn't. No, he retired. When did he? No, he didn't. No, he retired well before 2017. So, let me have a look. Dan Evans, Ospreys. Because his Wikipedia only has it up to 2019. Ah, OK. So, maybe one's the Ospreys or the website. So, I remember him kicking a pounty for the Ospreys that he shouldn't have been allowed to do because he was on as a blood replacement, which wasn't allowed at the time. It's a weird rule. So, I think there's definitely, I think they've changed it since, but there's definitely at least one weird, like, a few goal kicks in there. I would just like to say that Ospreys haven't acknowledged said three points. So, I'm going to go off tries here. OK. Because I cannot find a legit three. So, he had 173 appearances and he is, yeah. So, you can tell me how many you think he scored. How many tries? Yeah. I got 32 tries. I think there was a bit more than that because he was on, like, the records. Oh, was he? Tries. Oh, it might have been between 45 and 50. So, I'll go 47. It's 52. He is the second highest try score for the Ospreys ever. Um, joined in 2014 to Shane. Um, probably closely behind Sam Harry as well. Made 173 appearances. Weirdly, I, this is like, I think, I thought he retired a lot further, but he only retired in June 2023. I thought he retired, like, I know he hadn't played and he was not the same player, but I thought he retired a lot, like, yeah, it's a weird one. Dan Evans is him. Dan Evans, yeah. Yeah, well, he was on, when I was, when I went into the training camp, which was just over a year ago now, um, he was walking around on crutches the entire time. Like, he was still there and he was, you know, you'd sometimes see him in a stand-up game. So, he only formally retired, yeah, in the off-season. This is our third season without him. Yeah, it is our first. We are a Dan Evans-less team. That's, that's, that's weird. Uh, who was at 14? Do you have a guess, boys? Uh, Hanno Dirksen? It was Hanno Dirksen. Nice player. This was in, he showed up for the Champions Cup in this era. It was like the year after. We talked about the Northampton game last week where he floors, that's the game I think he floors George Knorr. Like, I will find that clip, that will be going on Twitter as well. He just absolutely, like, runs over him. So, yeah, good player. We've covered Dirksen a lot. Fan favourite. 13, the Sprat. Oh, my favourite player. I weirdly thought it was Ben Jon, but I might give him a different game, because it more than likely was Ben Jon at some point. Uh, Eli Walker on the other wing. Oh, sorry, Josh Matavases, we've got about him. Oh, good player. Yeah, this was the era. He scored a try in the game against Exeter, didn't he? Exeter, the Exeter interception try, which my prominent achievement with Andrew Ford is I told him to put that try in the video he did. I was like, because have you ever wanted a man who looks less like, you know, less like he's going to score an interception try, score an interception try. So, yeah, he did that. Uh, Eli Walker. Terrific. What a player. Was this right after Peak Eli Walker? No, Peak Eli Walker was when he was in the Wales pre-World Cup warm-up matches. He scores that one against Ireland, where like, typically like a dart in and out, and then gets off to Walker. Because fans have been screaming for Walker at that time. Um, and then he played, yeah, he had like three Wales caps or whatever. He's like, he's like, you, a sport called quiz answer. It was like, who got, you're like, who got capped under Gatlin? You're like, you've got like four people left. You're like, who the hell? It's like him, Dominic Day, and like someone, you know, like these weird players you've never thought would get. Yeah, yeah. Um, Dan Biggar, obviously. Oh, yeah, obviously good player. Good player, yeah. Um, what's more to be said about Dan? Like, we don't, we haven't really spoken about Dan that much because you know, he teams with him in it. Really. Yeah, it's true. Yeah, it's like the third. Played his, played, this was the season, obviously played his way onto the line of stuff. Yeah. The year after, 2016, 17, to a lot of people's anger. Um, because there's always that clip of, um, John Spencer going, Dan Biggar, Ospreys, Wales. Like, and that's the clip that always comes up. And they always have the cameras at the training centers. And you see all these Swiss training centers, like around the countries. And then you go to Glandasien, it's literally a cafe in the pavilion, which is a very nice cafe. It's still a cafe, it's a pavilion. Dan Biggar, Ospreys, Wales. Who was at nine this day? Tom Haverfield? No. Rhys Webb? No. Brendan Leonard. The bald menace himself. Socialist icon, Brendan Leonard, who fought the power. The Karl Marx of rugby, who took back the means of rugby coaching to the masses. For those who don't know, there was a rumor that in the late Tandy era, Brendan Leonard led a revolt against, I can't say it properly, led a revolt against Steve Tandy. Ball on ball crime. He stacked some chairs up in the middle of the pavilion and started singing Les Miserables. Do you hear the people sing? Brendan Leonard is the same age as, I'll tell you who. So Brendan Leonard is 38. He's the same age as Fritz Lee. Oh, wow. One of them is still playing. So Brendan Leonard's Instagram is Wikipedia. He has a notable relative called Ron Leonard. Now, you'd think New Zealander, rugby, Taranaki, think yes, he could be a legacy player. No, Ron Leonard is an American cellist. What? Who has a distinguished career as a soloist, chamber musician, principal cellist, this has the stench of Tammy Black, formerly of the Scottish rugby part, who was big on editing Wikipedia pages because no one checked the Wikipedia pages of Scottish rugby players. Yeah, exactly. That's what I'm thinking. I'm sorry, Ron Leonard is not a real person. Ron Leonard is a side character on like a Criminal Minds episode. Ron Leonard. Okay, some other people at the same age as Fritz Lee and Brendan Leonard, right? Anna Kendrick, Lana Del Rey and Keira Knightley. The latest they do, my friend. Just, do you know Monet? Yeah. Just, we always think of rugby players in their own like little box. And I forget that like, oh no, no, Anna Kendrick is the same age as Brendan Leonard. Brendan Leonard to me is like the energy of an old man. I think they're the same age as like Alan Arkin, not Anna Kendrick. But there we go. Sorry, that's an aside, as you were. Brendan Leonard. So, who did we sign Brendan Leonard from, Yestin? Zebra, sorry. Yeah, yeah. Yestin. It was Zebra. Didn't he score against us that season? So yeah, he did. He had 47 appearances with Zebra. I don't remember him at the Chiefs. Especially, yeah. So he was at the Chiefs in 2013 as well. He's a proper journeyman where he's got that. I remember him with Zebra. That was Zebra. Between 40 and 60, like 70 appearances with each team he's played for. Does that make sense? Like, yeah, he's very... What's ironic is he was signed for injury cover. No, sorry, for cover for Rhys Webber's Go To The World Cup in 2015. We all know how that went. Sorry, Rhys Webber. But Ron Leonard, good, good cellist. Um, into the pack then. So we've got Paul James. Yes, good player. Good player. Owns a bar in Nice. Also popped up on my Facebook the other day. He's selling his camper van. So if anyone wants a camper van at a good rate with low mileage, please contact Paul James. Scott Baldwin. Good player. Sorry, to go back to Paul James. I was on my work stu, the job before I left up to England. I was on the summer do and I was in a pub slash bar in Nice. Not his bar. And it was that point in the night where everyone was drunk enough to be dancing, but it wasn't late enough to like bounce us to be on the door. So like under 18s could still come in. And I sort of stood there, a bit woozy. And then Paul James and his son walks past me. I just go, yeah, it's Paul James. Oh, your son looks like exactly like you. So yeah, Paul James. Good player. Scott Baldwin. Good player. Good player. 2015 World Cup. Vastly underrated. There's a photo of him on Graham Norton the other week. Was there? Yeah. So Rob Brydon told a story about when he met the Welsh rugby team. And there's a photo of him sat next to Scott Baldwin on Graham Norton in front of Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo. They looked at a photo of Scott Baldwin. I'm sorry. Oh, what on the rugby players, like unique rugby players when you put on Graham Norton. Like Keira Knightley has to look at a photo of like Jamie Nat Brown. This is, this is... Surely we can pitch this as like a, you know, when they do the interview junkets, promoting movies, just show them photos of Rob. I want a Nevermind the Buzzcocks round where you bring out four people, one of whom just happens to be like, well, I don't know, Nicky Thomas or something. You have to guess which one is Nicky Thomas. Like that's, that's it. If you want to save Scrum Five, that's what you do. You can do a Nevermind the Buzzcocks round where you bring out four, like four people who like one of you is actually Paul Tito. Right, so Scott Baldwin, Graham Norton. Do you reckon he gets a credit on Graham, on IMDb? I hope so. I'll get on his agent and see what he says. Aaron Jarvis is three. Good player. Vastly underrated. Good player. Was unfortunate to be around in the time he was in. Um, so Aaron Jarvis is not the striker for Torquay United. Um, so Aaron Jarvis is 37, so he's like the same. Uh, so started his career at Bath, which I forgot he did. Of course, yeah. Until 2011, made 50 appearances for Bath. Now, I thought he made more appearances for Ospreys. He made 71 appearances. Oh. 17 for Claremont, and I remember him being solid at Claremont. He played 40 times for the Dragons, and I can't remember any time he played for the Dragons. No, I thought he was, like when Lee Byrne and Jamie Roberts both signed for the Dragons, he played about five times. I thought he was in that club. So, then he made 18 World's appearances, which is like bang on for some of the Aaron Jarvis. Now. He then went on a coaching career with Dallas Jackals, which technically he still acts, apparently. But there's a footnote at the end of his coaching career on Wikipedia that says, now head of rugby at Ivy Bridge Community College. Oh, okay. Now, that doesn't sound like a big university. I won't lie. That is very last chance university. Now, what I want to see is a last chance university rugby, but all the coaches are like Aaron Jarvis and Ben Foden or someone like that. Instead of having these hard men from Compton. So, okay. So, last week, right, the good player I did, that Osprey Leicester game, right? One of the wingers, Billy Robinson, I didn't realize was a director of rugby at my old university, at Derby University. And I didn't realize that. I didn't put together that I once missed a training session with him. I did one training session and missed the second. I never went back. I tried to turn up, I turned up at the wrong pitch, the whole thing. But yeah, I was once coached by a player I mentioned on Good Player and he made no impression on me. Brilliant. This is what Good Player is all about though. Absolutely. So yeah, Aaron Jarvis, good player. Weird, like he's in some like deep state community college now in Texas somewhere. Uh, then, right, so we're going to Lloyd, right. It says Lloyd Ashley, but I'm not, I'm not standing for Lloyd Pears slander. He was Lloyd Pears first and then he got married. And yeah, by all means, get the name Lloyd Ashley, but he was Lloyd Pears. Um, brilliant. I thought it was a good player. Good player. No, like really underrated regional player. Solid regional player. Um, one of those players who like, correctly, his ceiling was being called up to a training squad and never playing for Whitehorse. You're like, yeah, that's correct. That's, that's where he should have been, at his level. Uh, a man called Alan Wynne-Jones. The funny thing is he's a non-West qualified, like, not to be silenced. He's alright, isn't he? I know, he was a good player, wasn't he? He was alright. Yeah, um, no, I've got memories. I think he played like a couple, he played a game against like, um, what, Ulster once? Yeah, he, he scored like a really good line-out move against the Cheetahs, I think. Yes! He scored a brace, eh? He did score a brace that day. Yeah. What bad for a man in the 37 appearances. Um, so the, the man that this team revolves around, okay, Sam Underhill. So, for those who don't know, Sam Underhill went to Cardiff University and at this point was still living in student accommodation. Not a house, he was living in halls. Um, so he was both Cardiff University, got them picked up by Bridgend and Bridgend were like, shit, this guy's, like, good. So Osprey signed him up. Um, he was good mates with Gareth Thomas, um, weirdly at the Ospreys at the same time was Tom O'Flaherty, um, who ex-Champions Cup winner, now at SAIL, was talked about as the next big thing at one point, never really looked anything other than a good club player. But, so Sam Underhill won Man of the Match this night, um, with an excellent defensive performance, as you know, and this is widely believed to be the game in which Eddie Jones sat and was like, hello, this is the answer to our problems at Flanker. I don't have to play James Haxwell anymore. Um, and he was right, he spoke to, said you have to sign for an English club, so I can thank you for England, and has been at Bath ever since. What's weird is, this is one of the first instances where a player I can remember going for a transfer fee. So apparently there was a £375,000 transfer fee. Wow. Um, born in Dayton, Ohio. Yes. Uh, so, uh, let's have a look at Dayton, Ohio. Let me go down to notable people from Dayton, Ohio. Um, so we've got Martin Sheen, legendary actor. He went from Martin Sheen to Michael Sheen. Yeah. Um, uh, who have we got here? Luke Grimes, current actor on Yellowstone, silliest show ever. Rob Lowe. Oh, wow. Okay, um, good, good actor. Who else? Right, so, uh, oh, who's that? No, I don't recognize him. I thought it was someone else. Going to athletes. Um, we've got, who do I recognize here? Absolutely, oh, Roger Clemens was an MLB pitcher. Good pitcher. Um, they're not sticking out. Uh, a pro wrestler called Chris Hero. That says all I need to know. Chris Hero. Um, good wrestler. Um, it's all like, you go down and like none of these stick out. There's a good few players. And then just weirdly sticking out is Sam Under, English rugby player. And, uh, PJ Turner, NFL player. And above, Salt Walther, IndyCar driver. Um, also from, uh, uh, from Dayton, Ohio. Let's have a look. Musicians is normally a good one. Um, oh God, none of these. There's a man called Bud Schenk, who's a saxophonist. Of course, you should have guessed that. So, yeah, not much coming out of Dayton, Ohio, but who is it? Sam Underhill. So Sam Underhill played two games for Gloucester in 2014. Um, before moving to the Ospreys, where how many games do you think he played for the Ospreys? Stay in the region of 40? 60-odd. 37. Okay. So bearing in mind, he has been at Bath since 2017. How many games do you think he's played for Bath? Ooh, that's a good question. A hundred. Okay, a hundred. Nice round number. Yeah, 80-odd. 82. Ooh, nice. That is not a good return on investment. I know he's been injured a lot, but you'd want more, wouldn't you? But the transfer fee, they haven't made that back yet. No. So he joined the Welsh Pro 12 team, the Ospreys. He made his debut against Ulster and was man of the match in his first start against Munster, actually, and joined in January 2017. So, but he was excellent this game. And there's a clip somewhere. And weirdly, when England were really high on Sam Underhill, they did a... because he went on the Argentina tour, if I remember correctly, because Jamal Ford Robinson went on that tour as well, and he's the only player on that tour not to get capped. Oh man, you know who got the one cap on that tour, though? Yeah, go on. Stephen Goddard-Myler. Yeah, exactly. So he went on this tour, and I remember a video coming out, and they just sort of erased the whole of the Ospreys' existence. And I'm like, guys, we're the one who gave him to you. He wouldn't know. He'd be playing for Bridgend and, like, would maybe go back and play for, like, I don't know, Taunton in Devon or something. Like, shout out to Taunton, Harley-Davidson's club. At seven, Justin Tipi-Rick, again, I think. Good player, good player, yeah. Like a Croatian, signed for the Rugby European Championship. Just about remember him. James King, where he belongs. Good player. How many, oh, how many Wales caps did James King get? If it's more than 15, Gatlin was on paint thinner. Yeah, I'd guess 12. James King feels like the kind of nexus eventer which good player for the Ospreys has built. Like, he is the ultimate, yeah, good player, James King. Ospreys-type player. Retired at 30. Oh, wow, okay. Born in Australia in Wodonga. Oh, cool. Who are the noticeable people to come out of Wodonga? There is no one, there is no one. I'm looking on the thing now. If I look on their Wikipedia, there is no noticeable people. Oh, no, there is a sports section, hello. So you've got some Aussie rules clubs, you've got two rugby league clubs. There is nothing here. It has a BMX club, so if you are in the Wodonga area, visiting James King's place of birth, you can go to the BMX club, which is situated at a complex near the Wodonga Raiders AFL complex. God. 203 appearances for the Ospreys. How many Wales caps do you think he got? I'd say 12. He can go for 11. That is perfect, that is so perfect. He obviously had that collision with Xavier Rush in 2012. Oh, yeah, yeah. Basically mashed his face up. He won his first Wales cap in that Hell Tour to Japan. Yeah. In 2013. Was it Andrew Pretorius? Yeah, he was in the 35-man squad for the 2013 Six Nations Championship. Yeah, and was forced to retire in 2021. Very sad. After failing to recover from an injury in 2019. Yeah, I think he had like two or three appearances with a shoulder injury. I think it was the Ulster game that challenged him with the face game, wasn't it? No, it was the Germany Booth era. I think he had like two or three appearances in the Tobi Booth. Then they realised... Good player. Yeah, really good player. On the bench then, this is a very good bench, the Ospreys. Apart from one player who... Can you guess who I don't like on this bench? Sam Harry. Good player. Yeah. So he would have been on about 48 trains at this point for the Ospreys. Nicky Smith. Good player. Great player. Malfufia. Was a player. Silent, said everything. He had a really good season when the Ospreys were dreadful. He was close to top tray scorer, but yeah. I met him in Swansea indoor market when he was buying some pasties for his children. And I was also buying pasties and Welsh cakes that day. Very large man. I have a story about Malfufia for Offair that a certain Mr Booth told me. Oh, wow. 19. Rory Thornton. Yeah, I mean... Yeah. Was a player. Good player for Cardiff though. Never kicked on with the Ospreys. Had bags of potential. Had the best environment to learn in a team with Adam Jones and the like. Never kicked on for me. My old season ticket sheets. His parents sat behind me and they were the most unbearable people ever. Every game would show the same phrase, which was, come on, Rory. My grandfather was a tolerant man, but I had to hold him back a few times. Dan Baker at 20. Good player. Good player. Ravaged by knee injuries. Glad he got to go to France. Now works on oil rigs. One of these players who I think unfairly gets maligned as having been shit and he wasn't, he was a good player. He's a ginger carob and two pilates. Does that make sense? I get it. I get it. In that his cousins are all brilliant. His cousins are brilliant, yeah. 21. There he is. The handsome man. Didn't get on this game was Tom Haverfield. Oh. Brendan Leonard played the full 18 minutes. Somehow played the full 18 minutes. Well, it says here Rory Thornton didn't get on either. His return game for this was of course the one where Haverfield scored in the 80th minute to get both bonus points. Which was voted try of the season, I believe as well. 22, Sam Davis kicked his contractually obliged drop goal. He came on at 47 minutes, which is early. So bigger obviously went off of the knock. Kicked goals at 58, dropped bonus 62, 67, 70, 78. Consistent. But that is the problem. I watched this game afterwards at the stadium. Who was commentating? Sky Sports and Champions. Heineken, Capiera. Stuart Barnes. Yes. Waxing lyrical about his magic wand of a left foot. It's just a match made in heaven with Stuart Barnes on Sky Sports commentary. I don't agree with Stuart Barnes on many things, right? But everyone talks about the Lion's Tour. There's two people that make modern day Lion's Tours for me. And that's Stuart Barnes on commentary. Who's the presenter? Alex Payne. Alex Payne, yeah. It can't be a Lion's Tour without Alex Payne there. And then weirdly you have James Gemmel in the studio, who no one remembers, but I quite liked. It was James Gemmel because he looked like a championship rugby player from the mid-2000s. And then rounding up the bench would be a fetus in Owen Watkin. Oh, wow, yeah. It was the mid-through season, I think. Like the proper one before injury. Well, yeah. So this is 2015-16. So he didn't play much. It was 2016-17 where that was the Saracens' year. Was I right? Was that 17-18? 17-17, he was out injured, oh yeah. Thank him. That's when he DSed. That's the one. So that was a good player. So Wesley Fofanar scored a try after five minutes. And everyone was like, oh, this is going to be a long night because then they scored. We replied to the penalty two minutes after. They kick another penalty on 19 minutes. Oh, we kicked one before. So we were in it. And then we just sort of ill-disciplined, you know, Collier's relief, pushed Wayne Barnes a bit too far, both figuratively and physically. Though, tell you what, right? Many of us were pushed too far emotionally this week. Because this game took place on the Friday night, right? This was the week in which David Bowie and Alan Rickman died. Oh, my God. So David Bowie, infamously, on the Monday had released Black Star, his final album. Then two days later, died. And the day before this game, Alan Rickman went as well. It was the start of that 2016 year where every celebrity passed on. So a very memorable week for completely different reasons. And a memorable game completely unrelated to that. I've also looked up, just for further context, the top of the UK singles charts and box office for this week. Yes, go on. The week in culture. Let me try to think. Let me try to think. Yeah, so. 2016, January 2016. So I'm guessing it was an X factor. No. No? I can't think of what films were out in 2016. Three of the top four singles were all by the same artist. An artist might be a strong word if you have a certain opinion. If I made that joke in 2011, it would have brought the house down. Nowadays, it feels like punching downwards. Right. So go on. Go on. So the top of the singles charts was Love Yourself by Justin Bieber. Good song. I like that. Solid. Yeah. Stitches by Shawn Mendes. Sorry, and what do you mean by Justin Bieber also in the top five with Sweet Lovers? Shawn Mendes, not bad. Bit self-paced. You know, look, yeah. If he was a player, he would be like super skinny era Sam Davis, like puts up reliable performances that aren't going to necessarily get talked about too much. Has, you know, has one particular reviewer who raves after him, but only on certain broadcasting channels. Who is off the film charts? This is a great list. So top of the UK box office was Ride Along 2, the Kevin Hart Ice Cube sequel. Knocking down, knocking off the top of the charts from the week before, The Revenant and in third place was Star Wars Episode VII, which had come out about a month beforehand and was still hanging on. Yeah. Tom Hardy. Yeah. And Will Poulter. Don't forget Will Poulter. Leonardo G and Yurito. He is, right? If you got Tom Hardy, it can be like Justin Tipperary. You've got DiCaprio is like your, who's that? Your Alan Wynne Jones. Will Poulter is your Lloyd Ashley in that. Yeah. He's Tom Haverfield. And I've seen him lead things before and it's been fine. It's been perfectly fine. But, you know, he's not making the next step up, unfortunately. So I just looked at the Fuffernal Triband. Oh, yeah. It comes off. So do you remember the kits from this year? So it was the yellow trim. Of course. The yellow Osprey on it. It looked awful. Not a good kit. So it's a simple Brock James just walks through Lloyd Ashley. Yeah, so not good. So films were awful. Everyone was dying. Music was mid. Was there anything good in it? Wales were crap this year as well. Wales were crap this year. England were grand slam. The film's released this week. I've been looking underneath at the new releases this week, right? Right along to 13 Hours, the Michael Bay movie. Norm of the North. No, I was. I liked it when I was in McCarthy. Because it's John Krasinski looking bloody handsome. Right. Yeah, go on. That is justification of Norm of the North, which is infamous only for the fact that whichever intern was running the Twitter account still has access to it and still tweets characters Norm of the North. Now, who was it? It was Rob Schneider as a polar bear. But then we drop outside the top 10, right? There's a film called Band of Robbers, which sounds great. There's a film I've never heard of called In the Shadow of Women. Which is a great title. I greatly enjoy it. In the Shadow of Women. And Island of Lemurs. Just, I don't know. I just enjoyed those. Are you doing your Vioplay segment? You just say heads over to Vioplay. Speaking of weird films, Robbie, what have you got for us this week? So I didn't. What I did is, as we started recording, because I wasn't prepared, I opened Vioplay, opened the film's app, and I picked the first thing I saw that sounded all right. Because I'm not sure if there's anything else I've seen on Vioplay. It's called Out Stealing Horses, and stars Stellan Skarsgård from 2019. In 1999, a 67-year-old trond has moved to a lonely little farm. One evening, he unexpectedly meets a neighbour, a man who he once met in 1949. Out Stealing Horses on Vioplay now. If you want to watch it, maybe we can watch it together. We can start a film club. Film club. I'm still waiting for you to review Handsome Devil. Oh, which is great. Yeah, which I said I'd do. I'm still waiting for that. I will hold you to that. Four years ago. Yeah. Because Andrew Scott puts in a particularly amazing performance in that film. He's fantastic. That's a lovely little film. Brian O'Briscoll did the rugby choreography for it. He did. You can tell as well. You can tell that Pete Bard's doing that. His wife's in it. His wife plays the main character's mum. Oh, really? Oh, this is deep. We are a disgrace of a podcast. Because the other three, right? I listen to the other three. And they are genuinely serious rugby podcasts. And then you get to Elwynn's and it's just shit posting. And I love it. This is the mistake you've made in getting me on, right? Like we mentioned just before we start recording. I hit a break point in the video I think, wasn't it? On the Francis game. And I was like, you know what? I'll literally four minutes before Hunter's decided to join in. And as you very kindly said, James, like don't burn yourself out. And I do not consider this work. This is not... I talk about rugby for a living, right? This is not a part of that. This doesn't mean shit posting. This is like a trip to the pub for me every week. So for context, I put in... So yesterday I joined the call and we were chatting. So we don't be chatting before recording. Because believe it or not, guys, we don't plan these podcasts. So when I first came on board, I planned pretty much the thing. Sats and everything. That went out the window very quickly. So I said, Robbie, we're in the call if you want to join. If not, we'll crack on. And I was like, I better mention what game we do with a good player. We're doing Osprey of Claremont. You know what I mean? Any excuse to watch Sam on the hill. But that was good play. We need to wrap it up because we have been going on for way too long. Although I said that last season. We've only been going an hour and a half. Which I think is good for us. And we did three of these last week. We did three of these. Any closing remarks on Osprey of Claremont? Apart from we should have got out of the group this year. The choir that I was involved in. Yes, you were part of the ghost choir, weren't you? Yes, it was me. And I was sat next to Robert Lewis, funnily enough. Yes, I might tweet Roger Lewis that tonight. Roger, were you in the ghost choir? Were you in? I'm pretty sure I was sat next to him. And yeah, I barely sang all evening. If I'm being brutally honest, I was also in the rugby. So it's possible that Roger Lewis' idol growing up was Tom Hatterfield? It could have been Brendan Lennon who played the fully. I can imagine doing an interview for Wales in the Twenties. Like, so who did you and I grow up? And there's that list of like Aaron Smith, TJ Perenar, all these amazing scrambles. And he goes, do you know what? I really like Brendan Lennon. I'm actually also a big fan of his notable relative, Ron Lennon. As a chitalist. I'm going to put out like an out of context panel for this episode. It'll be like, what would it be? It'd be Ron Lennon, the cellist, a picture of Damien Shuley. What else could we put? Oh, what else we talked about? Stella Skarsgård. And Justin Bieber, love yourself. But right. Also, a bit of housekeeping before we go. I, so Hugh Griffin does the thumbnails for the family, right? And he texted me last week saying, what player do you want for your thumbnail? And I said, Sam Lewis. And he went, who? No. That's sacrilege. That's a sacrible offence. But he made claims that no rugby existed before 2017 when the Scarlets won the league. Oh, no. Sorry, so the Scarlets have never been in New Zealand? Well, it depends who you ask, to be honest. Depends who you ask. Because I never stop bloody mentioning it. Oh, yeah. Anyway, so next week we actually have some rugby to talk about because we can preview a game. We have got Ulster on the 18th, Sunday the 18th, three o'clock kickoff. It's not on telly. Go to watch it. There's a Lance Bradley Q&A. He's a very, very nice man. Yeah, back to regional rugby. I'm slightly worried because Ulster haven't got any players in the Island squad. Friday night they didn't have anyone, Ulster. So Andy Fowler's not big on releasing anyone, though I guess we'll find out next week. That is true. And hopefully we'll at least get Watkin back. I'll be happy if I go into that game with Keith and Owen and not like Luke Stunt. As much as Luke Stunt is a good 13, I won't go in. That's it really. You can find us all on the socials. Yes, Dylan's got a total of 21 at Squid Rugby or at Squidgy Goat if you like films. Robbie, who are you best mates with now? Who am I best mates with? Your new best mates through your weird, weird, weird, weird, weird, weird, weird, weird, Mr. Scorsese. Yeah, my new colleague. My colleague, Martin Scorsese. Marty, as I call him. You're probably on the same fucking email blast. Zendaya did an advert for them last year and I was a bit like, you know, me and Zendaya are on the same payroll. We're basically the same person, you know. That's all right. I'll take that. There's like two people in accountancy or HR. One of them's doing Zendaya's payroll. What's a Nottingham? Someone's paying out to like some shell corporation in the Cayman Islands. And they're like, I've got a mom's hotel in Nottingham. Yeah, so you can find them and you can find me at James Rees 8 or you can find me upsetting many people about Adam Beard on the Osprey Diary Twitter account. I tried to get into a meme war with the Scarlet Boys today and I actually tweeted some very funny ones, especially the Joe Roberts one. I thought that was hilarious. But they didn't bite. Bastards. You can find me on the main rap podcast. I was back this week because they record at a normal time now. Um, where I wholeheartedly defended Owen Watkin. Go check it out. It's a good laugh. Uh, shout out before we go. Shout out Eason Roots making his debut for England. Winning Man of the Match. Um, under 20s smashing it. It's a good time. It's been Osprey's fun. Get your tickets for Jordan. Uh, you can now go to a big manor house and eat some food and then go watch the game. Um, Scotland's clearly been given access to a credit card and has been told go and do something hospitality. Um, so yeah, brilliant. Um, we've hit 300 followers. Uh, we are growing. We are the fastest growing of the pod accounts. Um, yeah, just, um, we love doing these. We love doing good player. Um, we will be doing, what will we be doing next week? Are we doing face charge down? Oh, yeah. In terms of, you know, it's Ulster at home. It's Nations break week. That there's, it's just, everything's aligned enough to, for it to be. What other Ulster games, notable games are there though? I can't think of any. I remember there was the one where Adam Jones did a long kick. The, the Tommy Bowe score off. James said someone scored off Adam Jones doing a kick. Um, and it was one where we lost eight nil, but played really well in one of those shit seasons. Yeah. I think there's two games that we actually lost eight nil, like two prisons against Ulster, eight nil. Oh yeah. One of them was the, at Bridgend though, wasn't it? One of them was in Bridgend. And Darren Kaye went on a podcast and whinged about it. He's like, we have to go to, to, to Bridgend. Yeah. There was a lot of complaints from Ulster supporters around that time, because why, because the game was. Well, yeah. Cause there's a big Northern Irish population in the Bridgend area. That's the hub of, yeah. Okay. Shout out to Ulster supporters. Yeah. So Ulster, we'll do Ulster face charge them game next week. Cause there'll be a lot of Alan Davies chat. And boy, do I have some things to say about that man. So yeah, we'll see you next week. Same time, same place. Robbie. Yeah, we'll see. We'll hopefully see you next week. Hopefully. Oh, we've got a new Twitter banner as well. The best. Oh yeah. I'm never changing it. I think this was sent into the chat. I think by yes then. And it's, I'm never ever changing it. And Toby likes it himself. And if you saw that, if you saw that tweet, you know, the one, it can be a good time. Good times coming up, but yeah, we'll see you all soon. Have a good one. Thank you for listening to the Osprey diary podcast. We hope you enjoyed the show. Please subscribe, rate and review wherever you listen to us. And it really helps spread the word. You can find us on all the usual social media channels or email us on welshregionalrugbypod at gmail.com. And remember, whatever the question rugby is always the answer.