Navidi was born in bridgend, the son of an Iranian wrestler who married a Welsh-speaker in Anglesey

Josh Navidi might have been collecting autographs, or Tana Umaga’s autograph anyway, at the time, but at least he knows what European success for Cardiff Blues looks like.

He was a spectator in Marseilles in 2010 when the Blues defeated Toulon to win the Amlin Challenge Cup, the only time a Welsh side has ever won European silverware.

Navidi had actually made his first-team debut that season, but it was his first year in the region’s academy, with Martyn Williams still the Blues’ open-side flanker, and Sam Warburton behind him. Wales’s plethora of open-sides is clearly not a new thing.

Navidi accepted the invitation to travel with the team and stay at their hotel. “It was amazing,” he says. “That’s probably the biggest thing I’ve