As the Ospreys prepare for their first game at St Helens, home of Swansea RFC, since the move to the Liberty Stadium, we take a trip down memory lane back to Saturday 30th April.
That was the day that the Ospreys last played a senior fixture at the historic seafront ground, defeating Ulster 23-16 in the now defunct Celtic Cup, watched by a crowd of 5,273.
They led from start to finish, Stefan Terblanche touching down for the first score at the end of the opening quarter, while young fly-half, Matthew Jones scored the rest of the Ospreys points, with a try, two conversions and three penalties.
Ulster could only muster a penalty try and 11 points from the boot of David Humphreys in reply.
The Ospreys team that day was:
Adrian Durston; Stefan Terblanche, Andew Bishop, Elvis Seveali'i, Shane Williams; Matthew Jones, Jason Spice; Paul James, Barry Williams (capt), Andrew Millward, Brent Cockbain, Jonathan Thomas, James Bater, Richie Pugh, Ryan Jones
Replacements: Duncan Jones, Lyndon Bateman, Steve Tandy, Shaun Connor, Dai Bishop, Richard Mustoe
So, what else was making the news that weekend and how were we living at the end of April 2005?
Lions in the making
Two of the matchday squad against Ulster had been named in the Lions squad earlier that month, ahead of the summer tour to New Zealand under Sir Clive Woodward.
It was to be the first of three tours for Shane Williams but for Gavin Henson, it was a trip to forget and, for that matter, never to be repeated.
Injuries meant that they would be joined by two regional team-mates in New Zealand, Brent Cockbain heading out as cover for the suspended Danny Grewcock, while Ryan Jones, an injury replacement for Simon Taylor went on to be arguably the man of the tour for the Lions, featuring in all three test matches, starting the last two.
Football fever
Just a couple of hours earlier and a mile up the road, Swansea City, now of the Premiership, were themselves saying goodbye to their historic old home, defeating Shrewsbury Town 1-0 in front of a capacity 11,469 crowd at the Vetch Field in the fourth tier of the English league.
The result meant they headed north to Bury the following weekend needing a win to secure promotion to the third tier, and they claimed a similar 1-0 success to begin their climb up through the divisions that coincided with the move to the Liberty Stadium.
In the charts
Tony Christie was celebrating a sixth consecutive week at number one in the charts, with just a little assistance from comedian Peter Kay, as (Is this the way to) Amarillo went on to enjoy 21 weeks in the top 40.
The song held off the challenge of new entries by Elvis Presley at number two (Way Down) and at number three, Bodyrockers, with I Like The Way.
Off the back of his single success, Christie was also flying high in the album charts, his Definitive Collection still at number three following a fortnight in top spot.
New at number one was Akon with Trouble, with Basement Jaxx and their The Singles compilation falling one.
On the big screen
New cinema releases include the eagerly awaited big screen adaptation of Douglas Adams’ Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy, starring Martin Freeman, along with XXX: State of the Union, starring Ice Cube, Willem Dafoe and Samuel L. Jackson.
Romcom A Lot Like Love, thriller The Interpreter and comic book adaptation, Sin City, were still packing out cinemas in the region
What’s on the box?
The recently relaunched Doctor Who on BBC1, starring David Tennant, was wowing viewers with 8.64million people watching the eagerly anticipated return of his biggest enemy this Saturday night in an episode entitled Dalek.
Series one of The Apprentice was approaching an exciting climax with semi-finalists Saira, James, Paul and Tim having just gone through the interview stage, and Timothy Campbell set to be crowned the first ever winner in just five days time.
With the 2005 General Election scheduled for May 5th, a special Question Time aired on 28th April featuring the leaders of the three main political parties. Tony Blair (Labour), Michael Howard (Conservative) and Charles Kennedy (Liberal Democrats), each being questioned for 30 minutes by the audience.
Everybody wanted one…
An iPod Nano
A Juicy Couture tracksuit
A Motorola Razr phone…
…. And a Crazy Frog ringtone to go on it
A Livestrong wristband
A pair of Heelys
A season ticket at the Liberty Stadium!
Tickets for Friday night’s Anglo-Welsh Cup game at St Helens between the Ospreys and Harlequins are available to buy at the Liberty Stadium Ticket Office and on the gate at Swansea RFC, priced just £10 with kids going free.