Yeah.

In terms of Gatland's game plan.

Not everyone liked watching it.

I, I, I wasn't a big fan of it 'cause probably didn't get picked as much as I wanted to, [chuckles] to be honest here.

But everyone knew exactly what they needed to do.

You know, I think he came in, and he just simplified everything.

You knew inside the 50-meter channel, you know, you're carrying Through your forwards off 10, you exhaust the touchline trying, you know, out, out sort of, uh, work teams.

We're three hundred percent better than we have been.

You've got Owen Watkins of the Ospreys, where-

where-And I mean this with the greatest respect.

Is their attack where we want Wales to go probably long term? I don't know.

But defensively, that is their super strength, and at the moment, we're, we're not getting that attack anyway.

So do we strengthen an area which is probably easier to strengthen from a defensive perspective to keep us in the fight for longer? And, and then I think on the back of that, we talk about momentum.

We can...

When we get close line, we can manipulate ways to get Rhys Carey into the game by having the likes of Aaron Wainwright and Dewi Lake, 'cause you can put them in positions 'cause you know it's a starter play.

So let's see how S- well, I guess Steve will go as strong as he can, albeit there are, you know, travel logistics to take into account.

So I'm gonna go for a, a C for the Ospreys.

Ospreys.Yeah, I think a C. I think a C.

You think the adversity the Ospreys have gone through this year, you know, the talk of, of cutting the region and ev- everything looking towards the Ospreys being cut, and then obviously towards the end of the season now saying they're gonna be there for, you know, at least another two years.

Just the ups and downs and emotions going through the, the players and the coaches throughout the season, and then around all that, you know, having the ability to try and focus and train week in, week out, and play against these quality teams.

I think you, you've, you've got to credit them.

So obviously they didn't make the playoffs, but I think, uh, they, they, they did well considering the, the circumstances surrounding them.

So I'd agree with Ballas, a C.

[laughing]

James Hook.

Yeah, that, that was the game.

In a nutshell, I think the, the amount of penalties they give away, particularly in the first half, after 10 in, in the first half, and just allowed the Stormers field position.

I think, obviously, Cam Winns scored the first try, um, for 20 minutes, obviously, they were in the lead, but after that first try, they didn't really fire a shot, did they? And then it was that 12-minute period where the Stormers scored 21 points before, before halftime, and it sort of just, you could see the way the game was going.

But to, to be fair to Cardiff, they got themselves back into the game, didn't they? They didn't really fire the shot until Basham made that good carry for a lineout, then he went over from a scrum and scored.

I thought, "Oh, here we go." Then they let, I think it's Sasha Ngomiseulu scored before he went off injured and, you know, it just, yellow cards then towards, you know, the, the end of the game probably put the nail in the coffin for me.

We know what he does, but he does it exceptionally well, and he could do it, um, with the top four teams in the league.

Yeah.

Yeah

... a, like, a, a finish.

But to score four V one in tries, um, and I, I echo Lauren's point.

The, I think the coaching staff as well have gotta take credit, b- as well because tactically Cardiff got it right, and then collectively the heart that that, the team, uh, shown.

You know, the injury list or, or unavailable players, but they have the belief.

And a, a really nice moment as well then for Lee Halfpenny to, to get on the field and have a, a send-off of Cardiff Arms Park was a, a really lovely way to end, and, uh, there was a lot of people swarming him at the end of the-

Yeah.

-uh, of the spectrum.

But Ashton, as someone who played, well, your whole career with the Dragons, just how much of an achievement is this for the Welsh Region?

[lips smack] It's absolutely massive.

You know, with all the criticism that the region's faced over the years and their performances, um, dom- domestically, primarily, um, in the URC and previous competitions, stuff like this just has a real positive, um, outlook on Welsh rugby as a whole, not just the Dragons, you know, especially the circumstances that we're in at the moment.

So it's nice that the Dragons are the ones, you know, flying the flag for, for Wales, even though we'd like more Welsh regions in there, but it's just a massive, massive positive for the region at the moment.

So how does winning this competition rank among the other achievements in your career?

Oh, it's right up there.

I think, you know, obviously international honors and, and winning trophies for Wales is obviously really special.

But in your club, you spend, you know, more, you spend more time with, with a club team around all the boys and, you know, you're always aspiring to win trophies.

Yeah.

Yeah, but I, I think obviously Seedy sort of held his throat, then sort of probably made it look a little bit worse than it was.

You know, there, there was head contact with another incident, which was probably had, had more force, but yeah, it was, it was definitely a card, you know.

I think you can't really argue with it, but some refs probably would've only given a yellow card.

But I think-

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Well, they're a huge support network, the families.