Ospreys Eyrie: The final game ......

So, we went on last week, and I just want to apologize. I had a really bad day at work, and I wasn't in the headspace to record, and quite frankly there was nothing really to talk about last week. But let this stuff and this podcast be a reminder that I'm aware that predominantly our audience is male. If you are a female Osprey fan, welcome. But our audience is predominantly male, and it is okay to have a bad mental health day. It is okay to reach out to your friends and say, look, I can't do this today. I'm having a tough time. Let that be the tone in which we set this podcast. Let's get into it. So, welcome back, gents. Last one. Well, next week's the last one, when we do some fun season. Well, last but three. Last but three. Yeah, sorry. Yeah, sorry. When we win the UK, that will be the last but one. We are still on course to win more silverware than Leinster this year. Not for the first time. I think we should just end the podcast there. As things stand, at the time of recording, the Ospreys have won more than Leinster this season, I think. If Ulster beat Munster on Saturday, which it's absolutely doable, we will have... A lot of weird things for Leinster as well. It's written in the stars, especially when you have an average point score of 6.1 in a URC match against a side that's intense or whatever. And then you only score one try in 100 minutes of rugby. Yes, Toulouse are very good at rugby and they've got 100 points, but it's all adds up. Hmm. So, yeah, just to mention, right, so we have won the Welsh Shield. And I mean, it's sort of flown under the radar because we've got bigger fish to fry. You know, it's like if Cardiff had won it, they'd have a brilliant, huge celebration once again, as they did last year when Josh Turnbull half-heartedly raised it on the pitch. And went, oh, OK. Then it opened up a story between the Millennium and Cardiff Osprey. Yeah, all the way. Have I told my story, actually, about that day? Yeah, it was the best thing ever. I think we spoke around the same time. I think we spoke around the same time and I remember you saying, it's like, I'm there, I'm either going to lift off the Shield or to give it to... Have I told it on the podcast? I haven't told it on the match, but tell it on the podcast. The short version of the story, just to very quickly run over it, right, was the four regions were told last year for Judgment Day, each of them, because I think theoretically any of them could have won the, or whatever it was anyway, won the Shield, all four of them had to provide a fan to present it. And the Ospreys were told, or the message that went out was, you know, like, be careful getting a kid in because the trophy can be quite heavy if you need to lift it. So Beth Hanson, the Ospreys, got in touch with me and said, like, do you fancy doing this? Are you going to be there anyway? And I was like, sure, why not? So if the Ospreys had won the Welsh Shield last year, if they'd beaten Cardiff in that last Judgment Day game, I would have gone on the pitch and presented the trophy to Justin Tipperick, which is the stupidest thing to ever happen. And like, the cool thing is, like, I got to go down the tunnel briefly in the Principality on Match Day to, like, have a look at what the process would be if I had to go in and get the trophy out. As it was, they got battered, and it became clear when everyone else was sat down the front, all the other people there, the other three regioners all nominated kids because the Ospreys had misunderstood it. And what they meant by, like, be careful if it's a kid, they meant, like, get someone over the age of 10, rather than get a fully grown adult who's nearing 30. And so it would have looked tragic if I'd gone up instead of, like, the actual child who was currently in hospital who presented it to Josh Turnbull. And that child is now Alex Mann. Yeah, he's actually played three games on the wing for them this season. Oh, that Judgment Day was miserable last year. Yeah. Awful. I went on, like, a last minute win with a mate, and we were sat in, sort of, the upper tier. And the Dragon Scarlet Scream was actually a genuinely compelling game of rugby. Sam Lousey doing a stupid thing, or one of the Tongans doing a stupid thing. That Rio Dias. The Rio Dias, step on, come back, mate. Oh, I watch that at least once a week to make myself feel better. And then Steph who's scoring under the posts. Yeah, it was just a really, really... And then that shower of shit happened for our game. And it was, like, we looked tired. We clearly didn't want to be there. There's that Thomas Williams try, which I hate watch every now and then. Oh, it was awful. With Harry Dolan on the wing. Harry Dolan! Yes! Oh, man. There's a pub quiz signing. Who Robert Rees keeps tweeting about at that time, saying he was the best signing ever just because he came from Edinburgh Vale. And I was just like, fuck off, Rob. Two fakers on every side, isn't it? So the best thing about that mate was, my best mate's from, he's a Wrexham boy, living in Cardiff. So we were going to go to his anyway. We had two options after the game. I had no intention of going out, because that's why I wore, like, tracksuit bottoms instead of just a casual set. So I had a text from a mate saying, Reuben Morgan Williams just texted me. They're all going over to Proud Mary's in Cardiff. A few fans are coming over. You see a couple of boys there, a few beers. I was like, if I can get in, I will. We couldn't get in as it was, because I was wearing a tracksuit. So we went to the City Arms, and there were two Wrexham fans in there, my best friend and this random man, who was just close to crying, because they watched Wrexham get promoted. So I basically had to console my friend on the way home, because he was quite drunk. Stopped off at the Domino's in the middle of Cardiff, and then walked back to Rome, him crying because Wrexham had won. And I was like, yeah, the Ospreys lost. What a day. What a day. I got accosted in between those two games by, I was waiting in the toilets, and a guy came up behind me and started shaking my shoulder, and we won, we won! And it was a Dragons fan, who'd just seen I was wearing black, and assumed I was also a Dragons fan. The guy was pissed out of his skull, and started crying as I was talking to him in the queue. At least Wrexham got promoted, the Dragons had won one game at the end of the season. And he got weepy and emotional over how proud he was that they'd pulled it off. That was brilliant. I hope they're going to do well, you know, hope you get another one next season. Yeah. I'd never been. I, yes, have you been much? Yeah, I remember the, oh, what year was it, when the Ospreys did that weird come back, and Wed dived in in the Covorner one year. Oh, I watched that one of the day, actually. That was, Josh Navidi scores that, it seems to be a very good try, but it's actually just pathetic defending. And he just runs through everyone. But I think the first one is the, where Bigger like steals the headlines and wins Man of the Match by doing some outrageous performance. And single-handedly wins the game, which is a lot of games of the Ospreys during that time period, but this was a proper Bigger performance as well. I, yeah, I know, I remember that one. I remember that first one being really exciting, and the first couple really were. And I went to a couple early on, and then, oh, the Gareth Amscombe infamous traitor match, I remember being there. I can't read that. Yeah, I met, you know, friends of ours, Josh Gardner and Lee of Blood and Mud, they did a kind of meetup around that. And then I went last year, and honestly, that kind of put me off going again this year, which I had been planning to go, because I thought last year was a really disa... I think the game itself kind of spoils the occasion a bit, because it wasn't great. But the amount of, like, people getting up, you know, going for drinks, disinterested in the rugby, I just kind of felt it was an overwhelming atmosphere in general. And I'm actually quite excited to see how it goes in the Cardiff City Stadium. Yeah, so am I. So I'm going down with Jamie from Ferry of Glare and Wrath, and we're meeting Gav from Giant of Glare and various other podcasts with Grav from Rock and Roll. And hopefully seeing Hugh from Scarlet Caesar and Pirate Rugby Pod, again, who's a nice guy, good source of rugby game with. So yeah, it'll be good, hopefully. Yeah, hopefully it's good. I'm taking, yeah, balancing bad stuff in the morning, taking it up to Cardiff, and then hopefully running over to Stony River for a drink. That one you were on about yesterday, we won 27-40. And that was a good game. Wow. Yeah, I think it was two or three that afternoon, I think. You scored two, I believe. Did Sam Underhill? Yeah, two, both in the last ten minutes. Sam Underhill scored in that game, yeah, you're right. It's all coming back to me now. So shall we go into the news? There's not much, I won't lie. We haven't really done much compared to the other three. So we were offered last week, obviously the big news last week was we got an update on the stadium. I say update, it was more confirmation of what pretty much everyone knew. So essentially, it has boiled down notes between Cardiff and up Cardiff. Swansea and Bridgend. That'd be a big upset. That's another minute of talk written all over. That's another minute of talk, sorry guys. Imagine how angry Neaf would be about that, if they went to Cardiff. So yeah, so essentially, both parties, Bridgend Council and Swansea Council, are putting forward plans for their respective grounds and how it best simply operates. I didn't listen to the interview with Lance Bradley on Friday, but from what I've heard, it's nothing groundbreaking. It's very much just saying what we know in word form. To break it all down, basically, St Helens would cost more in the long run, has more potential around off-field or away from that state revenue. And it would be described as a multi-year phase project, where they essentially keep adding more and more. So a barn, like in Tandarsey or like in Park of Scarlets. There's a picture of maybe 3G, different clubhouses, things like that. Bridgend would cost less, it would need less development. But there is limitations around its geographical location, obviously it's a CF postcode, as well as alienating the original Swanseas axis. There's also the limit of space in and around. There's less you can build in and around Bridgend. Can park plenty of lorries for the stands. So to me, and this is pure speculation, it seems like St Helens is still in pole position. What it sounds like is this was like a late surge by Bridgend council, who have offered a lot of money. I think it's also a really good contingency option. It has been when games haven't been available at the Liberty, or the Swansea.com, my apologies. There's no Bridgend.com as of yet. Yeah, worth noting as well, the fixtures came out and all the Osprey fixtures next season are listed as EBC, where almost everything else has the stadium written in. So obviously they're waiting for Swansea City's fixtures to be named, but I'd expect there will be at least a couple of clashes where they'll end up. Playing games with, you know, potentially in the Brewery Field next season, or maybe even other grounds as well. So it feels a bit like we want the Brewery Field on site, and it'll be a really good contingency option to have. And it might be we take a few games there, you know, even if Swansea, St Helens is the full time home, which feels like the better option. You listen to Lance Bradley talk and then wanting other revenue, then wanting other opportunities. With all due respect, I'm not sure how many businesses are going to go and head over for a day out to book out the, you know, the Brewery Field next to the big Tesco in Bridgend, which is a bit of a journey for not quite the venue that you're getting. If you're overlooking a professional pitch, and also by the beach, by the sea as you are at St Helens, it's a much better location. It's got much more potential for other revenue to come in, which the club in the region need. And the situation they're in, if they can start generating more revenue, and just owning the stadium will do that because it'll allow them to have a much bigger take on food, drink, ticket sales, which is currently split very heavily with Swansea. You know, Swansea City are taking the majority of all of that on home games. All of that would allow the club to be more prosperous and probably make more money, even if they sell fewer tickets. So that feels like a big priority in terms of just keeping them going. All of the constant talk of that, you know, should we cut down to three? It's actually you need to put together the best possible position to make sure that's not the case. And St Helens feels like that to me. Estyn, do you have a thought? Yeah, kind of just going to echo what everyone's kind of said. It just feels like, you know, St Helens is in front, but you've kind of got Bridgend as that really, you know, maybe left field backup option, but it seems that it could do a really solid job. And, you know, maybe if, you know, something didn't really go to plan with St Helens, you know, all right, there's a lot of supporters probably not pleased with going to Bridgend, and that, you know, it's still, you know, an okay ground, you can get a good crowd in there on a good day. You know, the biggest worry is with Bridgend, is what the crowd would be like if it's just a Friday night at home to someone maybe not as big in terms of, you know, someone like Cardiff rivalry, maybe if it's a home game against Gondon, or a home game against Zebra or something like that, you know, how it would turn up in that fixture. Obviously, I think the Scots can draw the crowds, you know, like Cardiff. But it's like those lesser games where you kind of think of, oh, you know, do I really want to go out here on a Friday night? You know, you look outside in the weather, and it's not particularly good, and you think, you know, I'm just going to stay home, put it on the tally or whatever. So that's like one point I kind of got against Bridgend, where I think if the games were in St Helens, it kind of feels like there'd be a bulk of supporters there, wherever they're at, regardless of who they're playing. And it just feels like that's just edging it at the moment for me. There's also, with Bridgend, with all love and respect to Bridgend, it's a great contingent structure, like Robbie said. A year ago tomorrow, do you remember what a year ago tomorrow was on the rugby calendar? It's the 31st of May, 2023. No idea. What was it? Swansea RFC versus the Barbarians. The Alan Wynne-Jones derby. I was there. You were yesterday? Thank you. Yeah, I was in the press contingent. You were in the press contingent. But you saw just how big St Helens could be. I'm not saying that's what it'd be like for every Ospreys match, obviously it'd be a lot different, right? This is not me saying that. But the buzz around St Helens there was on a different level. And as someone who used to live two streets away, not even two streets, a street away from St Helens when I was in uni, the highlight of my week was that walk down to St Helens on a Wednesday night to watch Swansea uni RFC. It's just nothing like it. And there are issues around transport and things like that. It can be difficult to get down to. These things can be worked around, right? I just think that from what we're hearing, St Helens is the better option in the long term. And by all sorts of linking to this, the first Ospreys business club took place two weeks ago, or last week, and sort of sniffing around Twitter X and sniffing around LinkedIn, it does seem that it was a really, really big success. And there's a lot of long-term plans to get local businesses from what you're doing involved. So to see that, that just screams St Helens more to me. Is that how do we get like Scotland's coffee company and or the fab four coffee in or something like, you know, how do we get local advertising agency and things like that? You know, how different conference centers and things like that. So that for me is the better option. And judging by how Lance is talking, I just think that St Helens would be the better option and is the more viable. Yeah. So before we get, we'll go into fixtures in a minute, let's just round off some silly news. Toby Fricker has been confirmed to join your team, Robbie. Heck yeah, or Frick yeah, I suppose. Yeah, the New England Free Jacks, my MLR team of choice. I should have won the jersey tonight, man. It's a lovely jersey. I am a beloved New England Free Jacks supporter, reigning champions of the major league rugby, New England Free Jacks. I'm losing track of words. I don't mean to. I apologize. What's going on? New England Free Jacks. Yeah, well, they've generally the Free Jacks. They have been less flashy. There's a lot of MLR teams, the San Diego Legion probably being the headline amongst them, who have signed some fantastic and the guillotine is back, you know, RIP. Um, some fantastic kind of players who are over the hill and want a bit of a payday. There's a lot of talk that Jonathan Davis, Foxy, is off there, not Jiffy. So, you know what? If we could send him over to Las Vegas, just leave him there. I wouldn't be too bothered. Well, he shouts numbers a lot. Hey! Anything just think of the in-casino shouting numbers, numbers. Just have him do a residency, you know. Lock him up. Make him like Elvis. Just lock him in a hotel. Medication. But yeah, the Free Jacks have generally recruited really smart. They've kind of signed like percentage players and players that will perform on the pitch, kind of money ball-ish. And that led to really good results last year. And I like Toby Fricker. It's a shame that he didn't get more game time. I thought he looked really good in the one game he did play. Um, as I referred to in the podcast, like we have Josh Adams at home. And then, you know what? He's now, he's USA qualified. He's chasing that cap, clearly. He had a year chasing an England cap. Now, a year chasing a Welsh cap. Now, he's after the USA cap. And good on him. A good player. I like the look of him. And yeah, wish him all the best at the second best rugby club. So, what's funny is that the Free Jacks listed him as an Ospreys player, but used a Bristol photo. Because quite frankly, the only photo of Toby Fricker in an Ospreys jersey that exists, is currently in this month's edition of Rugby World. Because he's in Rugby World, and there's a part of him that just says like, Toby Fricker has joined USA. They might as well say for some reason. And it's him carrying the ball against the Sharks. So, that's quite funny. He was like, he was right in front of me on the touchline when, for that Sharks game. And sometimes when it's a cold Friday night, you end up paying much more attention to how the wing is chasing. And like, could really take a kick, that last. So, look, appreciate that. Yeah. Speaking of former Ospreys in the MLR, so I was a supporter of Rugby United New York, and Rugby New York. Oh, I thought, sorry, have you seen Giltini? No, but Billy Meeks could play. Sadly, sadly lost. Yeah, Rugby United New York fan. But there's a rugby player who I follow, who's called Manate Akue, who is Kenyan. Works so hard, like he got a contract originally, because he messaged Rugby New York and said, I'm a rugby player, can I have a trial? And they were like, yeah, why not? And he was really good. He was good enough to get a pro contract. He signed for Seattle Seawolves, Alan Clark's team. Oh, wow. And got Man of the Matches for his start, because he said there's injury cover. And it just makes me really happy, because he's like, comes from Kenya, moved his life over to sort of pursue this MLR dream. So, shout out my boy Manate. And, but it's just weird that Alan Clark is coaching the most, one of the most successful MLR teams. It was like one of the best squads. I support Chicago Hounds now. Because they found him though. Yeah. They went on a worldwide search. No stone unturned. If right, if we're going to talk about worldwide hunt, there's a new meme in town. Because if anyone saw Wales Online this week, they published a rumor saying that Alan Davis has been left out by Cardiff. Now, not six months ago, it was said that Cardiff had gone on a worldwide hunt for non-Welsh qualified men. And this is why they weren't going after Kieran Hardy. And there was like a raft of rumours floated about. And there was even numbers that sort of floated about as well. And now they've gone to Alan Davis. Alan Davis is the new Alan Clark. Look, how many, how many face first charge downs of winning drop goals has Faf de Klerk nailed? None. That's what I care about. Not World Cup's one. Don't care about that. Yeah. Purely face charge downs. Also, how bad do you have to be- Not charge downs quicker than World Cup final wins. Nope. How bad do you have to be to get kicked out of your position by Ivan Van Ziggle? Worse than Ivan Van Ziggle, presumably. Yeah, worse than Ivan Van Ziggle. Er, Michael Collins, our beloved Michael Collins, who I refuse to believe has left the Ospreys because we haven't published the leavers list from 2022 to 2023. He won the Japan League this week. By all accounts, he's loved over there. Really took his chance as well. So congrats to him. A big follow to the pod. Good guy. Just good egg. Always. He's good. There's always a bit when you say, we love Michael Collins, where you're like, God, are any Irish revolutionaries listening? Where are we heading? Yeah. The three Leinster fans that we still have. They've probably all switched stocks, haven't with the James Ryan joke yet. Yeah, true. True. They keep infuming somehow. Right, and finally- The highlight of those Ospreys team sheets of people holding them up remains the time they got, you know, ex-players to do it. And they had Tommy, but just holding on for his Michael Collins. It's really funny to get our only, like, notable former Irish player to do that. If we sign Michael Lowry, I'm going to have to splash our budget on the wire. Get the guy who plays Michael Lowry. That would be good for me. Isn't it Will Smith's character? No, it's one of the characters in Bad Boys, isn't it? Mike Lowry. Yeah, Mike Lowry. So we can get Mike Lowry and Jack Walsh as our 10 slash fullback options, as Jack Walsh, the character from Midnight Run, and Mike Lowry from Bad Boys. This is a real niche to be built here. And we can sign someone called Ethan Hunt. Yes, of course, the hooker Ethan Hunt. Let's get them in. Let's build a full team of characters who are... From movies. Yeah, let's sign that little known second row Thanos. The Melbourne Rebels, I believe. So it's just come on the market. But can he carry, though? That's the question. He needs to get all seven, like, fits of his glove on in order to... He wears those, like, Brock James fingerless gloves, and if he's not wearing them, he's useless. Yeah, peak 2005 lions, that is. Right, and finally, before we go to the fixtures, Liam Williams has been rumoured to come back to Wales. And it's understood that he's looking for a club in Wales, because him and his partner are expecting a baby. Congratulations, Liam. It's bittersweet, because we talked about this in the chat, he would be a very good sign, ability-wise. No doubt in that. There is talk, you know, rightly so, talks of his fitness, hasn't played much rugby, didn't play... He barely played for Cardiff, and when he did, he just wins, because he's put in very legal and good tackles, and I'm still salty about that. Yeah, so I'm conflicted, because obviously I really like Nagy, Walsh, Yes and Hopkins. Harry Houston can play there as well, so we do need back three players, but I don't think 33-year-old Liam Williams is the answer. It's a weird one, isn't it? Because as you say, we need back three players, we need to make a signing there at least. And I like Max Nagy, I like Jack Walsh a lot, as a full-back, and I like Yes and Hopkins a lot. But I don't look at any of them and think they're a Champions Cup winner, you know, at least at the minute. Nagy and Hopkins could kick on. Walsh, I think, is going to be a 10 going forward, but he's a very useful full-back. And having someone who can help us beat the best teams will be useful. The problem is, how many games will he play if he does come in, right? Like, even if he doesn't retire from Wales duty, there's a very decent chance that he picks up injuries, which he's been doing a lot. You know, he missed most of his full first season at Cardiff, he's played, what, maybe two games, three games. And you kind of question, is it worth the money? And is there a stench of someone who wants to be in Wales rather than at the Ospreys? And I think this squad needs players who buy into the culture and buy into what we're doing here. And I see Liam Williams doing his twos, the hot ones, rip off. Yeah, that's it, that's the question. And that's the thing, right? If Booth talks to him and believes he will buy in, he's part of this culture, I'd be very happy to have him because having a world-class fullback in the squad will only help things. And he'll also help the likes of Nagy come on, you know, someone's position as sound as him will be a huge benefit. Because at the minute, there isn't an out-and-out brilliant world-class fullback to be teaching those guys, you know? Obviously, Richard Russell is, as a coach, who is one of the greatest fullbacks of all time. But from a kind of, you know, being there and done at an international level sense, there isn't someone there, and that might be a benefit. And to fill that kind of North and Cuthbert role of a leadership-type back experienced player, I could see it. At the same time, I get both sides and it depends how much he's asking for. If he's wanting the kind of way that he was wanting pre-World Cup, and especially the way he wanted in Japan, there's no way we can afford that, there's no way he's going to be worth it. But if Booth feels it's a good decision, I completely back that and I can see it being a brilliant choice. Yes. Justin, what sort of camp do you like? Yeah, it's kind of more the same, really. I probably wouldn't really want to risk it. I think if it was post-2019, for the next couple of years or whatever, you're like, oh yeah, you know, it would be a really good addition. But now you're thinking about it, you know, he's in his thirties. So in three, yeah. And last time to Cardiff, didn't really go to plan with a couple of injuries. And you're just thinking, you know, you'd have a good couple of games with him, then he'd be called up to Wales and you're thinking, all right, we might not see him for a while. And knowing luck with regional players, when they go to international, they do tend to get injured. And it just feels like one where you could really focus maybe another area in the back three. I feel like the Ospreys could do with the winger more than the fullback, because I think we just get more depth there. Well, speaking of that, I put this out on X. And for some reason, whenever I put tweets like these, rumours, they always do numbers. So let's see what some people say. Mark Percy contracts depending on whether he'd rather bring someone like Daniel Kacendian, who's been discussed before, Joe Jenkins from Bristol, or look at the Black Super Rugby League. Or if we were willing to spend Liam's money, looking at someone like Billy Proctor or Rupert Love from Super Rugby. Or, you know, Dream Sign would be Recon Grace. Jeff Ace said, don't see how he'd be valued for money for us. And I jokingly wrote, it's a spiteful athlete. And Annette said, don't boost us that petty, but Annette, I am. I am that petty. Andrew says, no, thanks. He's more interested in Wales career. Nick said, we certainly do need back three players. Zach Finch says, ospreys make the most sense. We need back three cover and someone who's notorious under the high ball will really help. That is true. I do think we lack a general at the back to collect ideas. I don't think Nagy's there yet. That's my thing with Nagy. I like him a lot, but what I like in a fullback is a fullback who is 95% under the high ball. You know, you have faith he's going to take it. And it's the one real work on in this game. It's just high ball work. Yep. Wynn says, with budgets for the army roster, it'd be better just to use Nagy Hopkins. But bringing Conveyor to replace Prosero. Macca says, I hope he saves Chicago from the Dragons. Tony, shout out Tony, good day. Would rather bring, would bring some experience, but we have Nagy and Walsh, as well as Hopkins and Houston coming through. Rather spend money on a 13 or a wing who is not 33. Yeah. So the general consensus is, I think he is not the right fit for us. The other part of it, though, when we're talking about budget, is supposedly the Scars aren't interested. So it's Osprey, Cardiff or Dragons. And Cardiff have Wynn and Beetham, so don't really need him. You know, it's probably a personal conversation because he's been with that club before, and was before he left. The Dragons, Dive Flanagan on the Scrum 5 pod, so their budget comes down to $42 million. They're going to be lower than the cap next year, based on their projection. So the chance of them being able to afford him are very slim. And at that point, if you've got, your choice is the Dragons on a greatly reduced wage, or the Ospreys, you're probably in a better bargaining position. You know, it's probably a buyer's market. And if you can get him vastly below his asking price, I wouldn't complain. But that becomes the thing, doesn't it? It's, how much can you ask him for? How much can you get him for? And if he's wanting those odd wages, it's not worth it. If he's getting... If this was 2017, he'd be playing for Worcester Warriors, West France, so I'd move up. Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's, this is what that sign screams. One person I did want to run past, you know, thinking today, obviously the sad news coming out of Melbourne today, the Rebels, have not been granted a licence to super run for 2035. Had a quick look through their squad list, and one that did stick out to me, would be, nice would be Matt Proctor. Ooh, good player. Yeah. Could be a really good addition. Liked him at Northampton a lot. Yeah. Yeah. So just the one that stuck out. Yeah. I think, likewise, in terms of players without clubs, Newcastle Central Athlon have released Matthias Moroney as well. Has he not gone to MLR? Oh, has he? Oh, of course he, yeah, there's that, yeah, it's Miami Sharks, isn't it? He's talking to, yeah. Okay. Forget that one then. No, because I said the same. But then I had multiple people texting me about, Josh Thomas, obviously been released as well. Sam Cross, presumably to go open for Aldi's. Um, cool. So should we go into the fiction list? Uh, let's. Let's. So, URC did something good and released a fix. Is it now? I mean, so like as Robbie said earlier, the home games aren't confirmed many ways yet. Obviously our primary home will be at Swansea.com Stadium. But we have to wait for Swansea City Fiction to come out. We open the season away at Dragons. The Rodney Parade tour continues, hopefully. Also, is this a really good chance to overcome that? You know, we're not coming in off any of the games. It can be the focus leading in and you can really attack that game. Yes, and you're our resident Rodney Parade expert. Talk to me. What do you think about our season opener? You know, of course it happened and not that long ago, didn't it? Yeah, where we scored after 33 seconds. Oh, well, that was two seasons ago. I was on about the season before where we won down there. And this is the one we lost. I can't remember. No, there was. That was the season after because after about 30 seconds. Yeah, Jack Walsh comes in on that lovely line. Yeah, and then Jack Walsh kicks the ball dead before nailing a drop-in conversion of about five minutes to go. And yeah, I remember. That's really important there. But the time before when we went up there, it was Gareth Hanscom's competitive debut, I think. He might have had the run out against Southampton in the friendly, then it was the Dragons game. And then it was the Cardiff game the week after where Jenkins absolutely crunched him. And yes, oh, yeah, he did. And also making his competitive debut that day was Michael Collins. He scored twice. Oh, yes. And, um, yeah, that's, that's kind of the only clinging on to hope that I've got for the fact that we went there on the opening day of the season in the, I want to say it was a Sunday afternoon, and won, which is rather... Was this 2022? Or 2023? 2001, sorry, 2021. Yeah, 21-22 because Rhys Davies was celebrating in front of the terraces the full-time whistle went. Yes, oh, yes, we won 27-23. And then we won 50 points to 31 later on in the season where Morgan Morris got a hat-trick. Yeah, so yeah, that was, that was a good game. I liked that one. So from there, we head back home where we played the DHL Stormers. Good time to play the Stormers. Actually, probably the best time to play the Stormers. Obviously, Rugby Championship will have happened. The box might not be back. So... But the Rugby Championship will still be going on, won't it? It's not really going on. It's not really November. Never mind. Yeah. So DHL Stormers is a good one to play at home. And as we learn this year, they don't want it. Rarely do. Should we rank these fixtures on do they want it or not? Well, because it's the only way to rank it. Yeah, Dragons definitely want it. They'll be up for that one. Dragons want it, I'd say. that game, the day we're playing the Stormers, South Africa are playing Argentina. Oh, perfect. That's a, they're playing Argentina two hours beforehand. So unless like the Tanyam or, you know, any of the players that are particularly eager to jump over. Yeah, we've got a pretty good chance there. So that's fallen pretty perfectly. Never, ever wanted Evan Roos to make his debut more. So right, I'm writing down want it, don't want it. So we're saying Dragons want it first off. Dragons, Dragons want it. Yeah, Dragons always want it. And then Stormers don't. Do we have to come back to this at the end of next season? Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, I will keep this posted. Dragons. Stormers. Obviously, last time we played Stormers at home, it was a 16 draw. They didn't want it yet. We haven't lost the Stormers in a while. This is a weird thing to say. Stormers don't want it. Stormers don't want it. Munster away. 5th of October. The tricky one, isn't it? That is the tricky one. But is that the rotation game? Because Munster are going to want it, right? They're the one team that consistently will want it. Yeah. One team that consistently not underestimated us, the entire booth era. They're the one team that's thrown everything at us and taken us seriously. So they're going to want it. And Tom Frisch didn't want it. And Tom Frisch rarely wants anything. Tony Frisch didn't want it. So I go for them and want it. Yeah. Yeah. They signed Abrams, is it? Yeah, yeah. Who was in the cursed thread that Sam Larner did for us. Because there are two players in that thread who haven't signed for the Ospreys. So from there, we go to the Vodacom Bulls at home, which is my birthday, 12th of October. Oh, happy birthday. So Bethan, if you are listening, I will accept a couple of jokes. So what are the odds on the South African Springbok players coming back into camp, having one week off post-Rugby Championship, right? Coming back in on maybe the 6th or the 7th of October and then flying out to Swansea for the 12th. How many players are going to be up for that? How many players are going to want to do that? Low. Yeah. Who are the Bulls playing the week before that? Just looking at... Screamers. So they're playing Ulster at home. Ulster, yeah. So they're then flying out, they're then playing the Ospreys away and the Scarlets away. So... Yeah, Scarlets away. So are they going to want to fly out to West Vidal? I'm going to say don't want it. I think don't want it. I'm going to... I can't see... I don't know, they're just such a good side, don't they? No, I think that... But don't, right, don't mistake this for will we win. I'm just saying will they want it or not. I think probably some of those players probably don't care but if they want it or not they'll just turn up and do it. The reason being is it's so close to the Rugby Championship, they want... There's no point them flying out. All depends on how many of them are named in the Springbok squad. From that Bulls team, a few. I think from that Bulls team, a few. The other thing is that there are fewer Springboks there than... You know, like Billy the Roo is going to be presumably retired. He might go, he hasn't retired formally but how many is he going to play? And then there are fewer Springboks there than there are in the Stormers. But yeah, I think... I don't think Cornel Hendricks doesn't play. The thing is... I think these fixtures have fallen really nicely for us in that we get the two toughest South African teams at home and the two ones we've got to go away to are the Sharks who have been weaker and at the end of the season, so we'll see how that falls, and the Lions who have beaten the four away, right? So that gives us a chance to go, again, four from four against South African teams. We got three out of four this season. We can target that. Four out of five. Four out of five, of course. Um, and then also, we'll get onto it, but like, Leinster's at home as well, which means we can target that game and that is during the Six Nations window where they will be severely depleted. But yeah, I think this has fallen... These fixtures have fallen surprisingly quite nicely for us. So we'll probably be, you know, when we finish again one place outside the playoffs again next season, probably be hurting me saying this. Okay, so do they want it, is the question. Bulls, no. Right, Bulls don't want it. Bulls generally do want it, but I think they're going to have an off week. I'll stir away Friday night. That's going straight in the wanted column. That's the highest level of wanted that's possibly possible. Because, and with all due respect to him, I'm sure he's a lovely man, but I have to miss that commentator. And I'm going to claw my eyes out. You can miss it. If you're on a fair ground, you know, you're on the first wheel. Unless they put it on S4C on a Friday night. You are right. Do I want to listen to Richie Rees or that other commentator? Isn't Richie Rees starting a new job soon? Yeah, just because he'll be in Aberdashery School. Might take over his punditry duties. No, I doubt it. Edinburgh at home, they don't want it. No, last time they were in Swansea, they don't want conversions charged to them. They definitely don't. Yeah, that Screams doesn't want it. That was a hateful game. I hated every part of it. Oh, I loved it. No, I loved it. I hated it. Zebra away. Ooh, it's like the opposite of the Bulls. Yeah, so this is, there's a month, basically a month between that. So this is post-Europe. Yeah, post-Autumn. And post-Autumn, but post-Europe, mainly. I thought the Zebra game was before the European. Is it? Oh, wait. Oh, yeah, yeah. No, it's 30th of November. Yeah, November. Is that correct? This is post-Autumn for the Nationals. So presumably we'll have a full squad then. There'll be some 12-year-olds from Canton who get called up instead. Yeah, Zebra will want that, I think. Especially if it was in Swansea, they'd be like, if it's out in Parma, they're proper up for home games, aren't they? And they've got that weird opera section in the corner of the stand as well. Yeah, there's also a man with a flare, mainly. Yeah, which looks intimidating. You realise there's about 10 people there. They're going to bring on their incredible cameraman and he's going to run rings around her. Yeah, again, so we've got the two South African teams around the Rugby Championship. We've got the week after the International, Zebra, who will always contribute players to the Italian squad because they've only got two teams, right? So they're probably going to be missing a week afterwards. They're probably going to still rest, maybe their seven or eight best players. So again, they could call four quite nicely for us. What non-Italian players have they got? Ben Cambriani. Tiff Eden's off, disgustingly. No, I was about to name a player that left them in about 2015, because I am old now. Have they released their leavers list? I think they have. Tiff Eden's leaving. It's this one. Uh, yeah, there's a handful. There's a handful of players. Gonzalo Garcia, not that one, the other one. Well, of course, they've got two former Ospreys in Guido Horthy and Ben Cambriani. So I'll put them in the wanted category. Yeah, I think that's fair. We'll have to come back to this when the European rules get announced as well. Yes, absolutely. Scarlett's at home. They don't want it. They don't want it. As I said in the chat earlier, finally back to normality. Scarlett's on Boxing Day in Swansea. Cardiff on New Year's Day. None of this woke nonsense. We're back to being a proper country. Yeah, this is how it should be. Even though last year was hilarious. It was the most awful game of rugby, but when Johnny Williams threw that, I'm not even going to call it a pass. I'm going to just assume he knocked it on. Jaguars gets it and sells Johan Lloyd. That could sell Saudi Arabia, man. That was hilarious because they were like, oh, we've got the losing bonus. I've got the losing bonus. No, you don't. He's really killed. It's a terrible game. James Fender, absolutely incredible. And then Jaguars just brought it to life at the end. Yeah, like one of those great moments for seeing my mum learn who James Fender is in real time. Yeah, that was that. Yeah, so Scarlett's at home. They don't want it. Cardiff away. This is their Super Bowl. So yeah, they want it. Yeah, they want it. I think they want it. The game's not going to be played on grass either. So it's a question. Yeah. Harry Deaves might not want it, but this might spur him on. So yeah, this is Cardiff's Super Bowl. So they definitely want it. I mean, they... Right, Benetton at home. Don't like it. They don't want it. I'm saying it now. Yeah, I've got a feeling. I've got a feeling. This is post-Europe as well. A week before the Six Nations begins. So presumably again... We'll probably play Benetton in Europe anyway, so... Yeah, but Benetton will be down most of their players because they can't be basically the full Italian squad at this point. And it feels a bit like that is a chance for them to send out the boys who don't want it. He might not even be with us, but Chris Moore to score four tries. Al Adewi Lake. So Benetton... Thomas Gargia will be there though, and he will want it. So it will be like... Yeah, Thomas Gargia likes... Benetton won't want it. Thomas Gargia will want it. But like, is it going to be like a slice of cake from somewhere in Swansea? I don't know, but he will want it. Be worth it. We won't even see like Louie Lainer. We'll see Matt Gallagher in Swansea. Yeah. Then Leinster. They don't want it. No. They sent their first set to play us a couple of weeks ago, so they... And look where that got them. Yeah. How do you take any... Yeah. Again, this is mid Six Nations, this game. So they are basically the Irish national team. And I know they've got incredible depth, but it kind of stinks of that Ulster game during the Six Nations, where we were able to put up a really strong team. And also we're missing a few key players. And then Dan Ed was knocked over a winning drop goal. So I'm saying Dan Ed was another winning drop goal against Leinster. It's going to become a tradition. I should probably be prepared by that point, won't I? It's going to be Reece Henry versus Tanya Latupo. It's going to be fantastic. So Leinster don't want it. Glasgow away. They always want it. Yeah, especially in Glasgow, yeah. Well, then they'll have a reduced squad because Six Nations, but Glasgow away, I'd argue, is one of the toughest sections in the bussing. I think it is, yeah. I think that is a game where if you can get one point out of it, we've done tremendously well. Yeah, I agree. Connacht at home. No. The last time we played Connacht at home, we were going through a really bad spell. Yeah. The thing is, I hold Connacht didn't want it in that game. They just won anyway. Yeah. We wanted it less. It was a really miserable game, that. I'm going to go. Yeah, that was a horrible game to watch. I'm going to go Connacht don't want it. I'm going to have a star next to them. Yeah, we started really well in that game and then we just fell away. Yeah, it was two minutes in through. Jailor? Yeah. Yeah. Reuben scored, yeah. Reuben scored as well. Scarlet away, 29th of March. It's a two-week post-extensions business. Don't think anyone's wanted anything less. Cool. No, I think the Scarlets will have a moment of going they want it. They're not realising what want it means. I'm panicking and thinking wanting it means like 22 dropouts or something. Yeah, that's fine by me. Scarlet's away. Cardiff at home, which is earmarked for judgment day. So we're putting it in want it. Yeah. Because they only have to go 12 yards to their stadium. Unless they're not better because I'll go off on one. Dragons at home, which seems to be a fiction there, where we just play them at the end of the season at home. They are going in full capital letters. Do not want it. They hate this fixture. It always seems to get it. Such a contrast in the home and the way you fix it though, isn't it? Yeah. Every year we seem to get the Dragons in the last two or three games of the season. And every year it goes the same way. And then we end in Sharks versus the Lions, who are both firmly going in the want it category. I'm still waiting for the Sharks to like turn up next season and become like a bunch of world beaters. Losing their squads. And then all of a sudden they'll be like there or there about needing like the odd win or two for the playoffs. And then they just play out a lot. And you're like, ah, well. So in the want it category, we've got Dragons away, Munster, Elster, Zebra, Cardiff home and away, Glasgow Sharks, Lions. Yep. I don't think the Lions want it. I can go with that. I can go with that. I'm going to put Rhiann Lowe doesn't want it. Rhiann Lowe. In the don't want it category, we've got Stormers, Bulls, Edinburgh, Scarlet, home and away, Benetton, Edgings, Gorter, Shea One, Leinster, Connor, Scarlet, Dragons, Munrey and Lowe. They're the people who don't want it. I think that's a comprehensive list. And the best way to look at a fixture list. I think it's going to be a really interesting league next season. I think you're going to be full of teams who vary on whether they want it or not. I think we're going to see all four South African teams being more competitive. I think the Sharks will get over whatever's been going on this year. And that Chinese Cup win will help. So you have another, you have a 12 team pushing for the playoffs. I think all 12 or 11 that have been at this season will continue on as such. And I think we also could see several got a new coach coming in. The coach from the Italian 20s has done a brilliant job there. He might see them improve a bit. So that might be interesting. And the Dragons have got an actual defence coach coming in, which should make a difference there. And Cardiff have been so close to winning so many games. I feel like next year, they're going to learn to start winning those. And they might not be pushing for playoffs yet, but I think they're going to be in a much stronger position and start beating some of the big dogs, which might even out the middle of the table a bit more. So I think, deciding I'm not a Scarlets fan, I'm quite excited about next season. Cardiff have to win. If they don't do anything next year, it becomes a problem. And I had a discussion with Hugh Griffin earlier about the Scarlets. Scarlets are a very winnable first for the first six games. Okay. If they don't win four at minimum, then something has to be said, basically. That's the fixture list. Right, let's do good player first, and then we'll end with Judgment Day. So, we're not going to do Judgment Day, because I feel like we've covered the Candy era in a bit, and we'll park it and come back to the Candy era, when we maybe look at, like, Deleguin or someone like that. Maybe the back-end Sean Harley, start of the Candy era. We're going to go back to 2008, where Ospreys played Cardiff. Well, it says Cardiff Rugby here, but it was Cardiff Blues. They were firmly the Blues at this point. So let's say, rugby in 2008 was not a fun time, internationally. Test match rugby wasn't great. A lot of up-and-unders. The jackal was very strong. It was the time I got properly into it. The time I first got really excited by it. Yeah, no, I agree. So, that's what I love. I love up-and-unders. I love teams not wanting to concede. Yeah. Dig into it. Obviously, Six Nations that year, quite good. Yeah, it went all right, didn't it? Yeah, it went all right. The Ospreys beat England. Yeah, Ospreys beat England. Yeah, two random men got in off the street. One of it is now an Osprey himself, though, in Mark Jones. That is 14 Ospreys. Yeah, 14 Ospreys. The Ospreys on one ringer. Yeah. So, in terms of Welsh rugby in quite a good place, we won Six Nations. We'd make up a fair chunk of the Lions team, next, in the following year. So, we come to the team. So, this game finished 32-10. And the best way of describing it is, Cardiff just didn't want it. But honestly, no, the best way of describing it. Who do you think refereed this game? Nigel? It was Nigel. The Celtic League, put some respect on the name. Is it the best iteration of the league? I prefer the Magna League myself. Magna, I see, I'm a Pro 12 boy. The Rabo Direct Pro 12. The Rabo Direct Pro 12. The real one. The real one, yeah, the real one. So, this was the start of the season, I think. So, this was played on the 9th of September. So, let's look at the line-up. Who do you want to start with? Homer away. Let's start with Cardiff. All right, let's start with Cardiff. Full-back, Ben Blair. Good player. Great player. Hello. What a player. You know, only to try to get into his international career, 2003 World Cup, I think it was. Great for Cardiff. I think got injured. Basically, I think he got injured. I think got injured. Basically, basically invented Lee Halfpenny. Yeah. Like, was Lee Halfpenny's real mentor and you can see it when you watch Ben Blair play? Was kicking this day as well. So, yeah. At right-to-winger, Richard Musto, former Spurs boss. Oh, that's fine. We've talked about Richard Musto before on a previous pod. So, go find that, I can't remember which one it was. 13, Jamie Robinson. Solid player. Yeah. The lesser remembered Robinson brother. Yeah. This would be fresh off his, like, brilliant try against South Africa, wouldn't it? Is that for the field intercept against South Africa? Yeah. Yes, it was. You're right. Another Jamie Robb. Jamie Roberts. Future Test Lion, et cetera, et cetera. Yeah, was soon to be on the Lions Tour, 2009. With, what, one cap to his name against Scotland that year? Oh, no, he'd just gone on that summer tour, of course, hadn't he? Just gone on that summer tour, yeah. Just been moved into the centre by Gatland a month earlier. Moved into the centre by Gatland. Still had pace and a step. I think, obviously, this is the imperial era for Jamie Roberts. 2008 to about 2013, I'd say. It was his imperial era. He was probably one of the best 12s in the world. Yeah. Yeah. He was second only to Martin Onew at the time. Yeah. Well, and the Osprey's 12th of the state. The Brew on the other wing. Alid. Alid Brew. Alid Brew. Great player. Vastly underrated. Very underrated. This is a very tidy back play. Yeah. It's not bad so far. I won't lie, it does drop a bit when you see who's 9 and 10. So you've got Kerry Sweeney at 10. Perfectly decent player, Kerry Sweeney. I'll sign up for Kerry Sweeney. If you want it to kick off, Kerry Sweeney's your man. Yeah. I've got a lot of time for that. No, Kerry Sweeney was like a very decent, very Welsh Valleys play-off. A lot of time for Kerry Sweeney. He had that final kebab shop. The MySpace generation Lee Jarvis. Yeah. Georgia Evans, cousin from the Welsh women's team as well. You know, look- Does she like to fight as well? I hope so. I hope so. Kerry Sweeney also loves bows in his hair. So the two things go together. Darren Allinson at 9. Oh, Darren Allinson. For a long time. Oh, for a long time when I had to name an obscure rugby player, which happened more often than you'd think, I would go to Darren Allinson. Was all right for Cardiff. Was part of that European Cup winning, or Challenge Cup winning team. Because he had one game where they had so many injuries that Martin Williams was covering nine, if Darren Allinson had to go off. He's only 35. Wow, okay. He then went to London Irish and sort of played a handful of times in his first season and disappeared off the face of the earth every flight. Well, you say that. He had 131 appearances for Irish. Okay, fair enough. This is on his Wikipedia. So he joined Cardiff Blues in 2007 at the age of 18 from the Scarlet Academy, made 36 appearances, got a women's medal, then joined London Irish. He is also a man of the national performance against Cardiff Blues in the Heineken Cup. And then joined Bath, but I don't think ever played. Oh, okay. To my knowledge. Perhaps entered Wales under-20s as well. Gwen Joyce, Ascoli Gwen Joyce. For those who know, that's where like a lot of famous rugby players went to school. But Darren Allinson is not. He would be the pointless answer. He played 20 games for Bath in the end. Oh, okay. Most of them off the bench. He signed his injury cover. Yeah. He does seem like a very stupid player. Yes, yeah. His last game, actually, professional game was against the Ospreys in a 32-19 win. What's it worth? Oh, in... Like Tandy era, wasn't it? What are we looking at? Anglo-Welsh Cup. Yeah. Yeah, like Tandy era Anglo-Welsh. This separate Welsh team is something. Joe Gatt on the bench. Davin Howells at fullback. James Hook and Ciarán Fonatea in midfield. No pace there. Derry Cross and Jay Baker. Welsh Prem legends on the wings. Yeah. We crossed. Will Jones, seven. Derry Cross, scorer of controversial training against the Dragons in Covid. Um, right. So we move into the forward thing. Uh, Tom Felice. Oh, what a man. What a player. Lovely man. Great player. A legend. Yeah. Uh, so good. So good. They named him twice. Thomas Rhys-Thomas. Another great player. Another great player. Always a big fan of TRT. Yeah. We can't not have seen this Thomas. Um, not the most handsome man in the world. Um, that's because it has to be said. He's, yeah, he's like fourth or fifth place. Yeah. Uh. He's no Lewis Lloyd. Do you know what? I always pictured him more as a Dragons player. I always remember him more as a Dragons player. I remember his time at Cardiff. Obviously played for Wasps as well for that one season. Yeah. Was there only one season he was there? 2012, 2013. Oh. But he made 28 appearances though. So was, you know. There was the infamous story about, because it was when Sean Edwards was at Wasps. And, um, when he signed, Sean Edwards' first words to him was, I don't pick the bloody Welsh team. Um, don't just come here for that. He's probably said that in a pub in West London, you know, in a lion's track suit. Yeah. A mismatched lion's track suit. Uh, so we moved then into Gary Powell. Oh, vague memories of Gary Powell. No. Yeah. That's an electrician from, like, Pontcarnet. No, I think you are right though. I think he was. I've got an image of him in my head because, actually I won't explain why, but this was the peak of my knowing everything about all four regions, knowing every player inside out, was the sort of season after this. The, like, 0-9-10 and 10-11 were sort of the absolute peaks of that for me. So every player that played for a region at any point is locked in my head forever there. So he had an interesting career path. So starting with the Rags. Oh, yeah. Richmond. Okay. Leeds, Tykes. People were in the Premier League at the time. Yeah. Gloucester and then Blues. Wow. That's a very, that, yeah. So Gary Powell, not bald, is the best way I can describe him. How do you know that? I pictured him as bald, not bald, and very lovely, cuffed up, black hair. Yeah, black hair. Bradley Davis at Glock. Good player. Great player. Good player. Yeah, probably played his best rugby out at the Blues still. I don't know, yeah, this was early in his career, wasn't it? Yeah, Bradley Davis played his best rugby. 2010, just before he went. There was that, I think the best game he ever played was that game after his mum died against France, and he was unbelievable. And then sort of had a run of a year there where he was nailed on first choice for Wales. And then most of his career I ever thought it was him and Charters kind of fought very much for that other jersey alongside Alan Wynne. That Wasps era was probably his best, I'd say. It was his last year at Cardiff and then his years at Wasps, wasn't it? Like that last season when he won the challenge card before he left, he was brilliant. Oh, yeah. And I think that might be, it was that and his first year at Wasps were kind of his peak. Just really unlucky to be in and around really good second rows. Yeah. Yeah, 66. Bradley, he was at the Ospreys last season. Yeah, and I love him for it. I love him more. Yeah. Yeah. I love him more for it. This time last year he was playing. Like he played in Judgment Day last year. He kicked the conversion for the barbells last year. At least attempted, I can't remember if he went over the bar or not. But probably he was a former flyer. Jetson kicked as well, which is even more impressive. He was the Thibaut Flamon of his day. He was a flyer as a kid. There's a fantasy he falls at 10. So Scott Morgan was with him. Yeah. Solid player. Perfectly all right. One cap, I believe. Scott Morgan. Ben White at six. No, not that one. Ben White. Yes. The original Ben White. Yeah. Flanker had mad hair. Sort of him and Ben Lewis looked quite a bit alike or had similar haircuts. Both came along at the same time. Was Australian, I believe. Then signed for Exeter and was sort of a bit popular card. And then Exeter really got the most out of him. And yeah, he played a hundred times for Exeter. Yeah, played 50 times for the Blues. Yeah, sort of Marty Williams's fill-in. Partnering him was Robin Serling-Taylor, now Wales' S&C coach. Or one of the S&C coaches. And one of the greatest players of all time, I believe. Yeah. One score to try for more that I uploaded to YouTube and might still be up there when I was a kid. How many caps did he get? Oh, I'd guess like 12. But you have the answer. Eight caps. Of course, had to retire, shockingly, early as well. 28. He was good. I mean, double-barred Ogden does let you down a bit, especially in those. And then at eight, Andy Powell. Ah, early Andy Powell. He got me well. We won our Lions tour. Yeah. He did win the Lions tour. Won his first cap this autumn. Well, I think it was Phil Vickery said on that Lions tour at some point, I've seen fuck all from you, Powley. This is a standout from that tour on that video. It says, I've seen fuck all from you, Powley. Quickly going through the replacements. Obviously, this is the era stemming the six replacements. Sorry, seven. Seven replacements. Gething. So yeah. One of the greats. One of the greats. Gareth Williams. Yeah, good player. Yeah. Paul Tito. Great player. Icon. Uh, another great player. Manuel Molitica. This bench is a great player. This is a spicy bench. This is quite literally, quite literally. This is Donovan. Because that's next to Jason Spice. The curry himself. It's actually. Before Tom Curry, we had Jason Spice. Bar Gareth Williams. This is a world-class bench, I think, for the time. Gareth Williams, perfectly decent player. Played well. Yeah, perfectly decent. Manuel Molitica, Jason Spice, Nicky Robinson, and Tom Shankly. Yeah, that's pretty good. That's a bloody, that's a bloody good bench. I mean, if we're going off punditry wise. Some to be desired. But yeah, God, Gething was so good. Jason Spice was good. Nicky Robinson was all right in this era. Solid club player. Tom Shankly was playing some of the best rugby in his career, 2008. Yeah. Got injured, so didn't play for the Lions. Um, really, I like that squad a lot. Yeah. They only scored 10 points, so can't be that good. Australia's team is probably just what you'd expect from the time. Leeburn, Tommy Bowe, and Shane Wynn, they always make up the back three. They're okay. I don't know if they did. Lee, probably the best, uh, back three ever, in your opinion? It certainly might be. The all-time, probably back three for me, in your opinion, is that. Yeah. As a unit, yeah. As a unit. Absolutely. Oh, if it's personal preference, it's Hanno Dirksen, Tom Hammond, Richard Fussell. Geoff, and Richard Fussell. Geoff Hasler, Richard Fussell, and Dirksen is my personal preference. That's the best. I've forgotten off a billet. Bish and Parker in the centre, so. Not bad. Solid. Stanley Parker. Bish was on the 08 USA tour. 09, yeah. 09, yeah, sorry. Um, I'll give 10, obviously. Uh, Prime James Huck. This is, yeah, Prime James Huck. Um, Roger Ewells at 9. Oh man, I remember Roger Ewells. No. Yeah, no, played a handful of times, but was, um, fine. Yeah, um, the big moment of his career, I guess, was at Derby against the Blues. No, no, it wasn't this game, it would have been the following season, where Shane was going to play 9, and instead Roger Ewells got drafted in the last second, having not played, I think, maybe since this game, having not played in over a year. Yeah, so, fine. Um, there's nothing on Roger Ewells, there's not even a Wikipedia. The well-run cry. Apart from a Wales Online article that says, um, Roger Ewells rescued Swansea RFC, but he jetted in from Dublin to help Swansea to their first Principality Welsh Premiership success in the season. Oh, wow. So, he flew from Dublin to Dublin for Whitechapel in Bedwars. Good on him. Uh, Duncan Jones, Hugh Bennett, Adam Jones. Good. That's a world-class record. I'm sorry, absolutely is. Duncan vastly underrated, as a proper word. Um, went for Adam Jones, best scrimmager in the world. Well, was obviously overlooked on the Lions tour later on in the year. Um, for Vickery, obviously. And Hugh Bennett, I thought was great. I loved Hugh Bennett. Um, Hibbard is probably a more fun player. Yeah. But I think if we go in front rows, yeah. Hello. Uh, Alan Wynne and Ian Evans, my favourite second row partnership of all time. Not Peaky and Evans, though. Peaky and Evans is 2013 Ian Evans. Unreal, that time. Did he have that breakthrough in 2007, where he was great, and then that resurgence after a long injury, probably second half of the season? Alan Wynne went on the Lions tour. He didn't have a great tour, but was still, you know, obviously. I don't know, yeah. Still played all three tests. Yeah, he's had eight. He was the winner of the rest of the tour. Yeah. Um, Ian Evans, so a female tier, tier of six. Yes, hello. The legend. Hello. Um, Steve Tandy, a seven. Phew. Hero. Legend. He played a hundred games for the Ospreys, and they were all six and a half every test. Steve Tandy played a hundred, six and a half out of ten games for the Ospreys. Someone's got to do it. Yeah. He was playing seven, he played six and a half. What more can you say? Brian Jones at eight, in the form of his life. Yeah. Absolutely peak Brian Jones, great player. He was truly injured for the Lions tour. Yeah. Hopefully, he'll be back. Hopefully, he'll be back. Hopefully, he'll be back. Hopefully, he'll be back. Hopefully, he'll be back. Hopefully, he'll be back. Hopefully, he'll be back. Hopefully, he'll be back. Hopefully, he'll be back. Hopefully, he'll be back. Hopefully, he'll be back. Hopefully, he'll be back. Hopefully, he'll be back. Overlooked the first thing, got injured once he flew out. Yeah, he flew out and they were like, oh yeah, you are injured. He got injured playing for Wales against the USA the previous week, allowing for Sam Warburton to come off the bench and replace him for his debut, a youngster by the name of Samuel Kennedy Warburton. All this is just in my head forever. He went and had a decent career. On the bench then, Ed Sheervanton was fine. Yeah, fine. Yeah, Paul James, great player. Can't really hope Dylan James plays for the Ospreys. Oh, yes. Because he's well thought of in the system. Ian Gough, this was in his resurgence as well. And the Gatling. The groundsman. Yeah, he was just where they brought in analysis and he was told, you're not allowed to touch the ball. All you do is hip wrap to him. Tom Smith was fine. Yeah, decent club player. Jamie Nutbrown. The best Pokemon game to play for the Ospreys was Nutbrown. Gareth Owen, not Gareth Reece Owen. Solid player. I think I did a big deep dive on Gareth's career a few weeks ago. He did go to Scotland. Yeah, and then left the Tigers. Two cardinal sins. He was a bit peri-weak, but left the Tigers, if you get what I mean. Yeah. And then Nicky Walker, the slowest winger to ever exist. Decent player, though. Yeah, fantastic. And was in shit-hot form at this point. Yeah. Went to the 2007 World Cup, Scotland. Well, he was the best player there. Which is, you know, how we took that from Phil Godman, I don't know. Yeah, so you just got off the 2007 World Cup. How are you likely to be finished with that? It sort of feels like it never ends, you know? Like, this has just become an ongoing part of my life now, is every week I have to watch an old rugby game. How can you start planning on the next series? Well, we want to do a Women's World Cup if we can get a full series for it. We thought that'd be fun. But it's really difficult. Yeah, 2010 would be great. 2014 would be ideal. But, yeah, it's not what we're looking for. Sky, a lot. I remember, yeah, 2010 being my first exposure to women's rugby, being on Sky. So that was this game. In terms of the time, yeah, it was a pretty, you know, normal game. So Tommy Bowles scored, because of course he did. Alistair Shane and James Huck scored too. James Huck kicked three, kicked five, sorry. Three pens, two pens and three conversions. I guess this was, like, our sprays were peak of their powers. Wales were peak of their powers. Like, James Huck was unplayable for this time. Cardiff brought Tom Shankly on at halftime and took Jamie Roberts off. So I'm assuming he must have been injured. So, yeah, just a nice... I'll let you sort of... The highlights of this game exist in really grainy footage. So if you do go and find them, it's very good. Like, Huck is just unreal. Spiky hair. Like, I'd say, no, I prefer them to Gav. I'd like to take prime Huck or prime Gav. No, as I am a Gavin Henderson truther, Gavin Henderson loyalist. And I always shall be. Love Gav. I absolutely adore Gav. And Luke Upton, who does follow the pod, is going to be very upset at this. Sorry, Luke. Because I know you're a Gav. I know you are. You've got a PhD in Gavin. So, yeah, I'd say prime Huck. I just, I love Huck. I did it this time. Yeah, you did it this time. 2017 Huck, not so much. Yeah. I built a career off that vendetta though, so I've done all right. Right. Shall we take a look at the game of the weekend very quickly? Let's have a... So we have not really got a press conference for this one. We sort of, so we can't really call it an injury front. So, Fender's not expected back. No, Fender's not expected back. I don't think there's anyone, I don't know if there's anyone that picked up injuries in the Dragons game. We know Beard's... We don't know Owen Watkins' situation after he pulled out late for personal reasons. Yes, obviously. We don't know what's happened there. We don't know if he's going to be okay to carry on. Hopefully, whatever happens resolves itself and is okay. Yeah. I feel that this is going to be a very unchanged squad. Yeah. You take Nigg because we have no players left. Is the main, the only one I could potentially see is you bring Nagy in and pull back. Yeah, I think so. I think I would do that. I think I would bring Nagy in more so you can use Walsh off the bench to change the game if we need those players. Lions. Exactly. You want him to come on fresh and be able to change the picture and attack things and use his pace from 10. And I think I would start Nagy for that reason. And people forget that Nagy's still in the top 10, like, and was for ages one of the top attacking fullbacks in the league. Yeah. So, are we saying, right, let's start Nagy at 15. Justin, what do you think? Do you think Nagy comes in at 15 or do you think Walsh? Yeah, Nagy in at 15 for me. As much as I do like Jack Walsh, I think he'll be having Nagy fullback or Walsh on the bench to provide a different option, I suppose, if things are a little bit tricky. Morgan and Giles for Wings? Yeah, it's kind of got to be. There's not much else to be changed, is there? Yeah. Yeah. Real statement game, potentially. Because there is a Wings spot open for Wales. Yeah, if he performs better than Cabango, with Josh Adams out of this game as well. Yeah. He is probably the form winger in Wales. And if Adams, you know, they were saying they don't know how bad Adams' injury is, potentially if he misses that tour. You are looking at a couple of spots being open in that squad. Yeah, the bloke was having blood drained from his knees every week. Jesus. In the World Cup, like, it was bad. I think Owen should be, as far as I'm, Owen should be okay. I hope. So Owen and Keith? Who? Yeah. Obviously, we haven't talked about the Dragons game, but I think Keith was fantastic. I think I've watched that top tackle he did about 50 times. Oh. It's so good. Look, we're an Iron O in troopers in this pod, right? We take an Iron O with a heartbeat. But it's just the way he is chopped down and then, like, jackaled by 48-year-old Justin Ziprig. It's just a sight to behold. But yeah, big test for him up against Brady. Yeah. And whichever centre they pull up their arse. Whichever ancient centre they reanimate for the game. And do we think it's Keaton Edwards? I think he finishes the season with Edwards, surely. I think so. I feel that that's the direction things are heading, is towards Dan Edwards. Building towards him being first choice. Certainly by the middle of next season, if not. In front of Gatland as well. Not saying he'll go to Australia, but great audition. The, yeah, biggest kind of stage he's played on to date. And giving him that platform, having given him enough game time. It's quite exciting. Reuben at 10. At nine, sorry. I love Reuben at 10. Reuben at nine, who, again, was brilliant against Dragons. Yeah. Yeah. If you look at his tribe, right? Everyone obviously looks at Morris' line. And Truck and Ofler. But look at Reuben Wilkins' line. It's like George Horne-esque. It's so good. It's so such smart, high IQ rugby. So yeah, I think Reuben at nine. Oh, eight is a tricky one. I wonder who will get the lowest, Morris. Yeah. Obviously up against Mackenzie Martin, most likely. I think there is an argument to be made for, if we're going all out for four tries, which we need to, you know, making the top eight will require four tries almost no matter what. It's interesting on the Scrum Five part, Booth said he won't tell. Because we kick off last. It's us and Ulster kick off as the last two. So Ulster-Munster won't be over by the time we start, but the other games will be, most likely. It means that we will know pretty much. Yeah, we will know what we need. We will know. As much as possible. Because it's either Ben or Tom or the team that will. Yeah, which is I think a 1pm kickoff. Yeah, I think so, yeah. Under the Lions as well. All teams involved, they're on the Friday night. So you've got Conor on the Friday night away in Dublin. And then you've got, well, Benetton-Edinburgh and then the Lions, Lions-Stormers derby. I think that's the Saturday 1pm slot kickoffs. So I think we kind of know what's going on, but we will know. So it's a kind of, I guess, quick catch up. We need whichever of Benetton-Edinburgh wins to not get a losing bonus point. Doesn't matter who wins. But as long as they don't get a point out of that, as long as who wins wins by more than eight. Though I suppose the other side is, no, yeah, because they both win more games than us, so that's fine. We need the Lions to, it doesn't matter if they get bonus points or whatever, we need them to not beat the Stormers. But they're Stormers away, Stormers going for those top four spots. So fingers crossed they go fairly big on that. And we need Conor to not beat Leinster with a bonus point in the RDS. Which feels like a long shot anyway. If you're seeing Leinster's squad, Conor can have a very good chance. Yeah, but they need to win with a bonus point, like we do, in order to kick us out. So yeah, that's the tricky bit of it. But we will know by kickoff. Booth said he's not going to tell the players unless the situation comes through where they only use four points rather than five. I still think that, yeah, Morris will start these. Six and seven, I think, stay the same. Jack Mawson is just as a prick. Both played very well. More time on the side, but that's the injury as well. Yeah, yeah. I think there's a... I could see the logic in putting Morgan Morrison as the Pacers option. But I think you stick with Morgan Morris. Yeah, I do also see the argument for Deves. Yeah. As just a menace. But you do lose a line-out forward in Zipric, because you're not dropping Morgan for Deves. Yeah. So four and five, stay the same. Yeah, I think he's going back to us last time. Ratty and... They kind of have to. Sutton, yeah. Ratty definitely playing for a place on the play. Yeah. I mean, Sutton, don't count Sutton out as well. A lot of people have been talking about this kid. Has played very well back into the season. And Wales have a massive lot crisis. Massive lot crisis. So if he can put in another good game here for the Games in South Africa, he put in, this could be huge for him, winning that cap. And then front row, I think you go Nicky to start. Yeah, yeah, I agree. Again, Nicky to start, Dewey, and then Tommy B. It's so weird that when Nicky comes off, we won't see him play for the Ospreys for a full year. I wish they hadn't published a leavers list, so I could treat him like Michael Collins. He's not actually a match. So yeah, I think so. I think the start of 15 would be Nicky, Dewey, Tom, Ratty, Sutton, Moggs, Tipps, Morris, Rooves, Bernakwoods, Jailo, Keefe, Watkin, Luke Moggs, and Nagy. On the bench, you'll have Parry. Yeah, with a billion tries, he can score a loan. Yeah, he needs a rest though. He's got a lot of rest. Yeah. Thankfully, this is, well, no, it's not the last game of the season, is it? No, we've got three more games. We get what we want. There's a lot of things to be played. Yeah, Tom. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And there is a lot for Lloyd, but... Yeah. And also, I suppose, for giving Garen Phillips game time ahead of next season. But I think you have to go all out on this. Yeah. And then Henry. Yeah. Tight turns. I just think having that experience of him... Having a kicking option to come in. Yeah. To have a kicking option, yeah. 19, I think, will be Lewis Jones. Okay. Because he's back. But the optimist in me has just said, it's going to be Stone Cold James Fender. That would be great if out of nowhere. But supposedly, he wasn't training two weeks ago. Yeah, I don't keep training, so... He won't be fit to play. I'm going to go Lewis Jones. Just... Stick Sekekete in. Keep him there. It doesn't matter because he'll only get maxed by eight minutes, if I'm honest. Thieves, 20. Although I do see the logic in... I put Morton. I do see the logic in Morton. I... To be honest, I see the logic in a 6-2 here. Yeah. I do see the logic in a 6-2. I think Cardiff went for a 6-2 last time as well. I understand the difference. I think they're going to do a 6-2 this week as well. Have you got centre covered, though? Who covers centre if you've got Walsh and Lucas? Oh, I guess so, yeah. Now you've got 13, if need be. Yeah. So, do we want to go 6-2? I think so. Well, he's looking at... If Yeson Hopkins isn't fit, then who'll be at the back of the bench? You're looking at... I suppose Boshoff would come in. Boshoff or Florent. Florent. Maybe Harry Houston at a push. I think 6-2. Isn't that Provero fit? Yeah. Him getting the send-off of scoring that fourth try would be perfect. Yeah. I think I'm going to go Morse. I would go 6-2. I would go Morse, Luke. We're not covering the Luke Davies news story, by the way. Oh, yeah. This is not something I want to talk about, if I'm honest. Look, the courts will decide his fate, as far as I'm concerned. He's a paid employee, but I suppose he's eligible to play. And there is an argument to be made around rehabilitation of offenders. And equal opportunity. You look at how Toby Booth handled the case around Matt Aubrey and Callum Carson. And I think he handled that as well, as I've seen any coach handle a similar kind of scandal, in terms of not having them in the building until they'd gone off and done sufficient work with homeless charities and worked through their issues and made amends, you know, and changed people. And I trust him to do the same again, if we come to that sort of situation. There's varying rumours around when Luke Davies signed that he was on life's chance, so they would have had to clear his head around other stuff as well. So we're not commenting on it, other than that, there's a lot to be said around it. And then 23, so should we say, who do we say 23? Boshoff? Yeah, I think 62 might work. But yeah, Florence, Florence, Boshoff. If Matt Prover is there, I'll go Matt Prover. I'll go Probs. So yeah, that's a good squad. I think we're in a much better place mentally than we were, judgementally, last year. So there's something Booth talks about on the Scrum 5 pod. He said basically after they lost to Saracens, they had all the contract stuff hanging over them. He said they were not up for a game, and it was really not a great atmosphere around the club the week leading into that game. So it's kind of no surprise we got the performance we did. The Edinburgh game the week before as well, you can kind of just sense everything went flat. You know, you had the, you know, the Saracens performance, which was so good despite the defeat. And then you just rocked up in Edinburgh, just everything just went flat. And you thought, oh, this is gutted. I do think mentally we're in a better place. Cardiff missing, Josh Adams is huge. No, they will have Ellis Jenkins. Ellis Jenkins is injured, he's injured. Ellis Jenkins is injured. Thomas Young is injured. They've got Rory Thornton. I'm just counting that as a handicap. Yeah. I think the thing that goes for Cardiff is they've got quite a number of players playing potentially the last game. They've got momentum as well. They've got momentum. Yeah. They come off a big win away in South Africa. And you look at their season, right? And they haven't won many games, but the ones they have lost, they've lost by small margins. So there haven't been many teams who've rocked up and handed them bonus point losses. And Cardiff, the way we beat them last time was we got on their discipline. So you force them to give away penalties. If you remember last time, we also had a penalty try. Josh Turnbull, stupid yellow. James Botham got a yellow from the penalty try, sorry. They gave away multiple scrimmage fractions. If you get on their discipline, they do crumble. And they also don't like points being scored in momentum. They struggle to build back momentum in games. So the only teams that have put bonus points past them this season were the Lions when they crumbled in the last ten minutes when they were in it, up until then. Leinster. And then Quinns and Rassing in Europe. So we lost our bonus points. Oh, did we? Yeah, we did. I thought we got three. Yeah, Giles got two, yeah. Giles, two, Morse, and penalty try. Yeah, of course we did. OK. But we didn't score the yellow from the penalty try. If you look at them games, them tries were all scored in succession. So it's not like back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. It's Lions will score some in succession. Leinster definitely scored those in succession. We scored ours in succession. So Cardiff, they go through scoreless periods and they get punished for it. Their discipline is woeful. I think their threat at the break zone in terms of the jackal is nullified in losing Jenkins and Young. But they are a threat in their physicality around the break zone. Lawrence, Ben Donnell. James Botham. James Botham. In that sense, I do think we do need to shore up that. They do have big ball carriers, Adam Lawrence, Ben Donnell. Mason Grady obviously picked Jack Walsh's pocket like a child. But I do think that if we get front foot ball, bring the likes of Dewey Lake. You bring Jack Morgan onto the ball. You bring Morris. You bring Tipper. Morris is one of the best carriers in Wales in terms of pulling defenders in. I do think that you just tire them. Can you get on top of Rhys Carré? Can you get on top of Dobrowolski? Can you do these things? Force Belcher into foul throws? Things like this. I do think the game can be won. I don't think we're going to batter them. No, neither do I. But I do think we can score four tries and win. I think there's a world in which it's four tries to three and we win. I don't pick one where it's like four tries to one or four tries to one. I'd go very similar score length to the one in January, 27-21. Yeah. I am nervous about it. But also there's a big bit of me that's kind of, I kind of settled into the fact last round of games that we're not making the playoffs and it's all fine. And actually, I'm really proud of what we've achieved this season. If we can just beat Cardiff, that'd be great and that'd be enough. But at the same time, the closer we get and the more we talk about it, the more I'm like, we could do it. We could sneak in here. The bit that gets me in a place like this is we clearly had the game plan. We have to score four tries against the Jackals, right? Yeah. And we struggled because we're in the mindset of having to score four. I said this on rap at the time. You put yourself in a position where you're so desperate to do something, you mess up consistently. And so we can't get into that habit. I don't know. I'd love to keep forcing the penalties and, you know, force an Aaron Wainwright, force a Dane Blackett type incident. It'd have to be clinical against Cardiff, I think. And a kicking game is too good for us not to be, and with all respect to the Jackals, they've got two weak kickers out of hand in Rosser and Reid. Yeah. But they don't in Cardiff. They've got Ben Thomas. It seems to be, yeah. So, give us a score prediction, boys. If you come back to me at 3pm on Saturday afternoon, and when the results have gone, I suppose, as well. I'll text you in the stadium this afternoon. I don't know, I just got a bit of a sense that there might not be an abundance of tries. I don't know. It feels like that end of season, like, not a low, but a game which might not produce, you know, 40-odd points each or whatever. The Ospreys might just get over that four-on-front try. Something like 26-21, something like that. It's not going to be, like, tries running in left, right and centre. They'll be, like, well-taken tries. We might have the odd intercept here and there or something. And Rhys-Henry to score, as well. Just another prediction from an intercept, for a laugh. Yeah, Robbie, go. I think if we get an early try, we'll be fine, and we can settle into it. I worry about the situation you were saying, about us bombing a bunch of chances. I don't think Cardiff will let what happened with the Dragons game happen, in terms of scoring a flurry of tries close together. I doubt that'll come. But the way I see it going is, yeah, if we can get that early try, I feel that fourth try is going to take us right to the end. And I feel like it'll be a tight game. We'll be maybe a point or two ahead, then try right of death to get that fourth try bonus point. It's what my gut's saying. But it's also saying late try for Benetton to get a losing bonus point there, and it'll all be pointless. To me, in that Benetton-Edinburgh game, which is Benetton-Spank-Edinburgh, I think the two things are like, it's either going to be 12-9, or Benetton-Spank-Edinburgh. I'm going to go 28-21. I'm going to go the same score line as it was in Bridgend. I'm going to go, I think Giles will score, I think Morris will score. I think Deves will come off the bench and score, and just for a laugh, I think Dre will score. Yeah, I just hope it's a good game. I'm a bit like you, Robbie. I preserve the fact that we might not get to the playoffs, and I'm fine with that. I'd rather, I just want to see us win. I want to see us end with more Ws than Ls, essentially. When we take a look at this season as a whole, after the playoffs, or after whenever, I want to say five out of six in Welsh derbies. I want to look at the positives. I don't want to look at the judgement days and the loss. So yeah, I think that's everything. I think we need to wrap up. If you're going to Judgement Day, have a fantastic day. If I do say anything down there, please say hi. We look forward to going down. You can follow us at ospreysiree on x, at scriptrugby on x, at yesterday's Controllers 21, the finest of whatever podcast channel you listen on. Follow us, the rap pod on TikTok. Yeah, so Robbie, congrats on your Champions Cup final video. Oh yeah, thank you. Finally went up. Finally got up today, so yeah. Check Yesterday's blog out, the OpenSide blog. Fantastic stuff on there. Well done for finishing uni as well, mate. Yeah, congratulations. Yeah, second year's kind of all done. Awaiting results. Weird. And yeah, I've not really got much to say other than the fact that I won't have to. I go back to work next week. So that has been us. We shall see you next week when we preview our playoff opponents, which I believe will be Bulls. Munster or Bulls, yeah. Munster. Oh yeah, PCC. Munster are top. If they win from bonus point, we are headed to Munster. If they slip up, if they lose, basically, we're heading for Bulls. Okay. 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, as 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.