After two weeks of spearheading the Cardiff challenge in the top tournament in European rugby, the 30-year-old Fish was back at his day job last week working with the academy.
He was hoping to back up his performances in Europe with another great showing against Pontypridd in the Premiership, but that game became another casualty of the Welsh Governments restriction on fans at matches over the festive period.
It may have seemed a bit of a drop-off in standard after taking on the European and French champions Toulouse and the English title holders Harlequins on successive Saturdays, but nothing gets the juices flowing more for a Cardiff lad than a clash at the Arms Park with Ponty.
Just as Cardiff gained huge kudos for turning out a team to fulfil their Champions Cup fixtures, so local hero Fish underlined his cult status with two great performances. Where he led, the youngsters he now coaches in the academy followed.
His performance at outside half against Marcus Smith at the Twickenham Stoop had BT Sport pundits like Lawrence Dallaglio and David Flatman raving over his skill and attacking intent. It even saw him appear in the top 10 trends on Twitter in the UK.
“I’m a Cardiff boy through and through and I was never going to turn down the chance to play another couple of games for the professional team,” said Fish.
“I had a big decision to make this year when the club offered me a coaching role. I still had a year left to run on my playing contract, but I wanted to get into coaching and this gave me the perfect start.
“Coming back to play outside half against Toulouse when Jason Tovey went off was a moment I will never forget. The crowd started chanting ‘Feed the Fish’ and that simply summed up the support we all felt throughout those two amazing weeks.
“But it’s back to my day job now working with the academy players and playing for Cardiff RFC in the Premiership. I was so proud of the way the youngsters stepped up to face two of the best teams in Europe.
“They took their chance to shine and earned huge credit for themselves and the club. They showed there is plenty of talent in the Premiership teams and that it is a competition that can underpin the regional teams.
“Young players need to play regularly and learn the game playing alongside some seasoned pros. I think everyone who stepped up from the Premiership ranks to play for Cardiff more than proved their worth.”
Fish knew exactly how the likes of Theo Cabango and Cam Winnett were feeling making their European debuts. His debut came against Aironi as an 18-year-old.
Theo Cabango was among the youngsters to step up from the Premiership for Cardiff
That remains among his greatest memories, along with scoring the winning try against Leinster at the Cardiff City Stadium and playing his 100th game at the Arms Park. Now he can add two epic European games.
“We all felt 10ft tall running out to play against Toulouse at home. It is a feeling I will never forget and I hope it spurs on the youngsters who are in our pathway,” said Fish.
“We’ve seen Ben Thomas comes through from the Cardiff RFC team and reach the Wales side and there are others now playing regional rugby. What we saw against Toulouse and Harlequins is there are others who want to follow their lead.
“These are good times for rugby in Cardiff. We’ve got a lot of local lads in the Cardiff regional squad and the academy is full of them.
“On top of that, we’ve just seen three teams from the city win the Welsh Schools & Colleges Cup titles – Cardiff & Vale College, Ysgol Glantaf and Whitchurch HS. More and more youngsters want to lay for Cardiff and we are proving there is a proper pathway for them.”
