Shane Williams, Gavin Henson, Ryan Jones, Mike Phillips, Adam Jones, Scott Baldwin, Marty Holah, Tommy Bowe, Jonathan Thomas, Dan Biggar and Justin Tipuric were all strutting their stuff and four Celtic Rugby titles flowed along with an Anglo-Welsh Cup.
But the man who led Wales on their tour to Australia this summer believes positive steps have been taken in restoring the reputation of the Welsh region under the astute leadership of Toby Booth.
Last season saw Lake and co reach the play-offs in the URC and the knock-out stages of a European tournament for the first time since 2010. They picked up the Welsh Shield for being the best of the four Welsh regions once again and are now ready to build on their most positive season in more than a decade.
“Making the top eight was a huge goal of ours, we probably should have done it sooner. There were some unlucky results, where we could have got something,” said Lake.
“We had some tough finishes but this is a group that should be in that top eight given the depth we’ve created in the squad and the culture we’ve built within the group,
“Last year we proved what we could be. It’s about getting there again, securing our spot and then kicking on further.
“We’re trying to recreate the glory days of the past. This is an historic club with an unbelievable past in terms of winning trophies and producing talent for Wales and beyond.
“That identity may have been lost over the past couple of years but it’s back now. Our job is to keep it going forward and to not let return the outside view that this isn’t a good and prestigious club.
“We’ve rebuilt the reputation and now we have to keep it that way and kick on.”
The first job will be to win for the first time since 2021 at Rodney Parade, which is something of a graveyard of their hopes. Last season they were beaten twice at the home of the ‘Men of Gwent’ – 20-19 in a pre-season friendly and then 20-5 in the URC – and lost 32-25 at the same venue the previous season in the league.
They enjoyed narrow wins in the 2021-22 (27-23) and 2020-21 (28-20) campaigns but lost 25-18 in 2019-20 and 23-22 in 2018-19. No wonder Rodney Parade has become a bit of a bogy ground for the Ospreys.
But Lake is putting his faith in Booth and the system he has created over the past four years in growing the region’s own talent, giving youth its chance and developing a team that can ‘find a way’ to win.
“Toby’s always pushed to give young boys an opportunity from when I first started playing under him. That’s always been his philosophy,” added Lake.
“It’s got to a point now where we’ve got a strong group of young boys that have come through under his regime.
“Then we’ve got older boys who are holding us accountable, giving us leadership and doing their jobs. The youngsters just keep on bringing their energy – they all want to get on the field, show what they can do and go after everything.
“You saw last season what that has created when it is all pooled together as a group. Hopefully, you’ll see that again this season.”
