After battling back to the biggest stage, Josh Navidi admits winning a Guinness Six Nations Grand Slam will live long in the memory.
Less than two years ago, Navidi remained outside the Wales squad, with one cap to his name despite his consistently impressive performances for Cardiff Blues.
But he burst back into the Test arena in the summer of 2017, proving what everyone at Cardiff Arms Park knew to the world, establishing himself as a main-stay of the squad.
As Wales marched to a glorious Grand Slam, in Warren Gatland’s final Championship, Navidi played almost every minute and more than any other forward.
In yesterday’s crowning glory against Ireland, as Cardiff Blues teammate Gareth Anscombe inspired a 25-7 win, he remained relentless, making a staggering 28 tackles in a dominant performance.
He said: “It has been a big campaign and it is nice to finish it off with silverware.
We felt quite comfortable in the game. We felt in control and the front five were outstanding.
“The half-backs put us in a position we wanted to be and just building the lead up slowly and getting the points ticking over is ideal.
“To actually get that medal and winning the Six Nations is a feeling I will keep for a long, long time.
“We have a really tight group and, in some games, we did not play well but we scraped through. The games we needed to, we played well and built into it.
“At the end of the day, winning all games and finishing with a Grand Slam is fantastic.”
Wales have now won a record-breaking 14 consecutive matches and are yet to taste defeat with Anscombe wearing the number 10 jersey.
They have displayed a never-say-die attitude throughout the Championship, battling back from behind against both France and England, and that resilience was there for all to see at the Principality Stadium, as Ireland could only muster seven consolation points at the death.
Navidi added: “It gives you big momentum, winning games back to back. It is something you take positively.
“There is always that feeling that we can come out on the right end and just that confidence that we can finish the games off and get the points we need for a win.
“It would have been nice to keep it to a clean sheet. We had the scrum and got turned over for a kick to the corner.
“Defence is something we pride ourselves on and Shaun works hard with us on that. It is something that has been good in this campaign but at the end of the day we won, so I’m happy.
“We started very well which lead us into momentum and it is a very hard place to come, the Principality, and if we have momentum, it is a hard place to turn things around for the opposition.”