Nathan Johns

I think it was in their last season in the RDS or what, nearly two and a half years ago now.

I remember looking around at the other journalists.

And of course, everyone who sits in the press box watches too much rugby and is slightly cynical about the whole thing.

So we all looked at each other going, what is going on here?

And we saw, whatever, the kids.

We saw these, you know, 50-year-old men in their stir chops giving it socks with the Viking clap.

And we're going...

Okay, there's definitely a cohort of people here who this kind of works for.

And fair play to them, you know, if you enjoy it, you enjoy it, each to their own.

But the point about, I think the fan engagement is a good one, because I had this conversation with Jerry a few weeks ago when we were talking about, is there a bit of a Viva fatigue?

I think people are looking forward to getting back to the RDS next year where the kids go to the autograph section, the kids can kick a ball at the back on the backtrack beforehand and stuff.

That stuff is important.

A hundred percent.

As a player, obviously maybe not with Ireland, but with Leinster, was there a preference for one or the other, or was it nice that the Viva was just for the bigger games with Leinster matches?

Like, how long did that take you

to go from you watch rugby through a very much a, right, I got to watch this on a Monday morning.

What did I do well?

What did I not do well?

Lens to, oh, well, the kids are just jumping up and down and having fun.

Like that's quite a big shift.