Cryotherapy chambers, protein shakes, diet sheets and post-match mixed zones are all something of a modern-day mystery to Rhiwbina RFC prop Roy Pesticcio, and why wouldn’t they be?
For Pesticcio is 51 and unashamedly still playing the game the way he has always played it.
“I’m still playing 1990s rugby,” he laughs. “You don’t get the scrum collision in the front row anymore, but other than that the game’s pretty much the same as far as I’m concerned. The all-round camaraderie — being part of a squad and having a few beers with the boys after matches — is still great.”
Read more : Meet the 61-year-old Welsh rugby scrum-half still turning out for the club he loves
A child of the 1970s, the decade of flares, glam rock and platform shoes, he made headlines this weekend by scoring a try for Rhiwbina in their 22-5 victory over Dinas Powys in Division One East Central.
For sure, it was not a day to be an old-style wing, with icy fingertips and chattering teeth, standing just inside the touchline waiting for a pass. Temperatures were low enough in east Wales on Saturday to hit the freezing mark, and while at least one watcher opted to beat a hasty retreat to the comfort and warmth of his own home Roy stayed on the pitch for the full 80 minutes, albeit while playing in an area where the action quickly heats up.
His touchdown was something to be savoured, for a tighthead prop scoring a try is a rarity.
And what of a 51-year-old No. 3 crashing over the opposition line? Let’s say we are venturing into Penny Black territory.
There’s been talk of Roy scorching over the icy field, beating two tacklers en route to his score. “I’ll take that,” he jokes in an interview with WalesOnline. “There were a couple of guys I had to go through, but it was a pick and go from around five to 10 metres. It wasn’t that extravagant, though if you want to say it was from 50 metres I won’t complain.
“Seriously, to score a try at my age is nice. I played for 10 years at hooker and I like to get around the park. Getting older, I’ve moved across the front row.
“The game against Dinas Powys was hard. That said, I thought I’d be flagging after the first half, but I felt OK and lasted until the end, albeit the scrums were tough going towards the end. There were a few pats on the back from the boys afterwards, saying ‘well done’. It was good fun.”
Roy started his marathon stint with The Squirrels at the age of 23. He has never counted his appearances but says he has played almost every weekend for the past 28 years. A rough calculation that the analytics people Opta would never run with suggests he has figured in around 700 games for the club that brought through Sam Warburton.
But he’s not going to be setting aside his boots just yet.
“One of the reasons I’m still playing is that one of my boys, Daniel, is playing for the youth," says Pesticcio senior. "Hopefully, in a couple of years I’ll have a game with him. He’s 6ft 4in and a lock. I’m the stumpy one in the family.
“There’s another one who’s coming through the ranks as well who’s under 11. I’m not going to be able to last long enough as a player to figure alongside him, but it would be nice to see my two boys play together.”
There had been no great plan to have a career with Rhiwbina. “I started off playing youth rugby for Glamorgan Wanderers,” he says. “Then I didn’t do anything for a couple of years.
“One day, I was hanging around on my pushbike in the car park at Rhiwbina rugby club when Rob Dunlop, who was captain of the thirds at the time, asked me: ‘Do you fancy a game?’ “I replied that I hadn’t played for a while but he told me he’d get me some boots and that was it. That’s when it started.
“I played a couple of seasons for the thirds, taking over as captain, then I captained the twos before going into the ones. I still enjoy it. The club's great."
Rhiwbina official Brian Crabbe said: “Roy is amazing. For him to be scoring from the front row at 51 is something else. He also made a great run in a game the other week and always gives his best.”
It was Mark Twain who said: "Whenever I get the urge to exercise, I lie down until the feeling passes away."
Roy is evidently cut from different cloth altogether. He's of the type who do what they can to hold back the years and make the most of every training session and every game.
But scoring at a half century-plus still takes some doing.
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