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This weekend, Ospreys face Scarlets in a Christmas Welsh derby. Locking horns as head coaches for the first time are former teammates Dwayne Peel and Mark Jones.
Earlier this week, the news was dramatically announced that Ospreys head coach Toby Booth would be leaving his role with immediate effect, despite the fact he was due to leave at the end of the season.
Filling the void for Booth is Jones, a former Wales international who won 47 caps as a player. He’s earned the right to slot into the head coach role, after working under current All Blacks boss Scott Robertson at Crusaders, as well as at Namibia and Worcester Warriors.
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Jones will now go up against his former teammate, and good friend, Peel. The pair played together for Scarlets between 2003 and 2008, when Peel left to join Sale Sharks.
Speaking on the latest episode of BBC Scrum V’s ‘The Warm Up’, their former Wales teammate Tom Shanklin re-told a tale from the pair when they were in France for the World Cup almost 18 years ago.
“When we played in the World Cup in 2007, we had these self-contained rooms in this hotel called Ker Juliette,” began Shanklin. “There were just sheep wandering around the complex. You couldn’t lock your door, basically, so everyone had open doors.
“There was loads of sandwiches and fruit in massive pallets in the hallway. Dwayne Peel would grab all of these bananas and fruit and just chuck it in Mark Jones’ room. So, he’d come back from training and his bed would be covered in fruit. This went on for ages.
“Mark finally snapped, and because he is a farmer, he knows how to handle sheep. The way he grabbed the sheep, caught the sheep, and picked the sheep up – you need experience. I wouldn’t know where to start. He put the sheep in Dwayne Peel’s room.
“So, we came back from training and we all knew what was going on. Peely opened his door and all you could hear was: ‘Mehh’ (sheep noises). And there were sheep droppings everywhere. They chewed through his kit, but no sheep were harmed in the process. And he obviously had experience!”
Wales stars Rob Evans and Alex Cuthbert were in stitches as Shanklin re-told the story.
You can watch the full episode of ‘The Warm Up’ by clicking here.
Peel and Jones face off against one another at the Swansea.com Stadium on Saturday, December 21 at 5.15pm.