What makes the West Wales Derby? You, our fans.
We spoke to Keith from Ospreys to discuss what the West Wales Derby meant to him and his memories of the game over the years.
We began the interview by asking Keith of his earliest memory of Ospreys Scarlets: “My earliest one that I remember or my most notable one. Were we supposed to be playing the Scarlets on Boxing Day at the stadium and the pipes froze so and we ended up playing them the following day. We beat them soundly in the end.
“The talk at the time was who was the best outside-half, Biggar or Priestland. Biggar certainly got the better of him that day. There was one occasion when Priestland kicked the ball over Biggar’s head, or so he thought, and Biggar caught the ball and ran right through to score.
“I also remember going down to the Parc Y Scarlets one year and we’d lost six games on the bounce and I think they were undefeated. And we beat them. Ryan Jones and Hanno Dirksen got the tries.”
Speaking on the importance of the crowd, Keith said: “They bring all the passion. All the passion of the game comes to a head with these derbies, particularly Ospreys Scarlets. You’ll find that the crowd will exceed itself."
When asked about what the derby mean to him, Keith said: “It's very important to me that we gain the upper hand. But I would say that it's no more important to me than any other game. I just want the Ospreys to win.
“Put it this way. I was given the choice of finishing in the top eight or beating the Scarlets I would choose the former.”
Keith finished by giving his score prediction: “31-15 to the Ospreys”