The only thing yellow about Harri Deaves is the colour of his scrum cap.
Just 20 years of age, the openside flanker from Pontyclun put in 25 tackles during a startling show in adversity for the Ospreys against Leinster in Dublin on Saturday.
Deaves also banged in 11 carries for 40 metres, beat three defenders and achieved at least one turnover.
The official man-of-the-match award in Leinster’s 29-7 win went to home centre Harry Byrne but had it gone to Deaves no-one could have complained.
Let’s return to the trademark scrum cap.
Deaves reveals he sports yellow headgear at the behest of gran, May.
“My nan got it for me because she couldn’t see me,” he said.
She’ll have seen him at the RDS.
In fact, he could not have been more conspicuous had he borrowed a flashing yellow warning lamp from roadworks in the Irish capital and attached it to his shirt for the entire 80 minutes at the RDS.
That said, the thinking is his nan would have been able to spot him whether he was wearing a brightly coloured scrum hat or not.
For Deaves was into everything, hauling down big Leinster players with low tackles and doing everything he could to contest the breakdowns. There was also some effective carrying from the former Wales U20s international, with the 5ft 11in, 14st 3lb player using a combination of strength, tenacity and clever footwork to make ground with ball in hand.
Little wonder his efforts were applauded during a one-sided game when the Ospreys were always up against it. On social media, one poster enthused: “Harri Deaves looks like the next cab off the rank with Welsh 7s. Really, really impressive. Would be no surprise to see him in Welsh Six Nations side next year.”
Someone else said: “The Welsh openside factory is firing still, Harri Deaves looks a prospect. Really putting his hand up.”
It’s way be way too soon to make firm predictions over a youngster who’s played only three games of senior rugby, but the signs are hugely promising.
To get the latest rugby news and analysis delivered straight to your inbox, you can sign up for our Welsh rugby newsletter.
