Hello, this is the Ruck, the journalist's rugby podcast from The Times and the Sunday Times.

Welcome along. January is almost over, which means the Six Nations is right around the corner. We'll chat about England's squad, which was named by Steve Borthwick on Friday. But their opening weekend opponents, Wales, well, the questions and uncertainty about the very future of the regions and the game itself continue to dominate the headlines. Plus, the latest round of Prem action had a little bit of everything.

I'm Alfie Reynolds. All of that to come in the company of the Times Deputy Rugby correspondent,

Will Kellahett. Hello. How are you, Will? I'm good and I'm on YouTube, as are all of us,

which is really exciting, isn't it? This is the first episode of The Ruck that you will be able'm good and I'm on YouTube as are all of us which is really exciting isn't it?

This is the first episode of The Ruck that you will be able to watch on YouTube. So you may be

listening to us at the moment as you usually do but if you feel so inclined do go and check us out.

You can watch us as well. I've had friends before when we've put up video clips being like,

I didn't know that's what Alex Lowe looked like. It's like when you read a book, isn't it? And you've got an idea of the characters in the head.

He's a matinee idol, isn't he?

But also, we've got, look, Mark Evans is here. I was going to say that. Voice you just heard is the long-awaited, eagerly anticipated return of Mark Evans. How are you, Mark? Good to see her. Thank you, guys. Well, what were you been doing while I've been away for three and a half years?

I mean, you've certainly gone up in the world.

Honestly, listeners and, and viewers. Thank you, guys. Well, what are you been doing while I've been away for three and a half years? You've certainly got nothing up in the world.

Honestly, listeners and viewers, it's all a bit flash, in it. Yeah, lovely. New logo. We've got a big boy pants on. We're in a new studio. It's all changed because, of course, I mean, you were a regular contributor to the Ruckmark, and then you've been spending...

How many years now, was it,

you were the CEO of the Fijian Dru?

Three and a half.

So three years.

Yeah, so ten months of the year in largely sunny Nandi. Sounds awful. It had its moments actually. Maybe politically difficult, but nice weather. I like it was a great experience. Yeah, so how was, I mean, obviously, you know, you've had a lot of varied experiences within

rugby, but I'd imagine that with the Fijian Drew was pretty eye-opening, pretty exciting,

a lot of challenges. All of those things. I wouldn't have missed it for the world. I was very, very, very, I look at it, been very, very fortunate to be given the opportunity and it was

Ben Ryan got it right when he wrote

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