Simon Easterby will take charge of his first game as interim Ireland head coach this weekend as his side host England in Dublin.

With Andy Farrell temporarily stepping away from his duties with Ireland to focus on preparations for this summer's British & Irish Lions tour, the 49-year-old is filling in for the Six Nations, as the men in green look to win an unprecedented third successive title.

While he and his side will become the enemies when they visit Cardiff on the third weekend of the championship, however, Easterby is a revered player in Wales, having spent nearly all of his club career there.

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After starting out in senior rugby with Leeds Tykes, the former flanker moved to Llanelli in 1999 and stayed there for over a decade as he captained the Scarlets for five consecutive seasons, playing in over 200 games and scoring 19 tries for Llanelli and the Scarlets.

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Following a playing career that also saw him win 65 caps for Ireland as an ever-present in the backrow and make two appearances for the Lions on the 2005 tour to New Zealand, Easterby stayed with the Welsh region. Upon his retirement in 2010, he became defence coach before stepping up to the head coach role two years later, but finally bid farewell in 2014 as he joined the Irish national set-up.

However, while he will be hoping to inspire Ireland to victory over the coming weeks, there will be split loyalties in Easterby's house, particularly on February 22. The former rugby star is married to Sarra Elgan, the S4C and TNT Sports presenter who has become one of Wales' top broadcasters in recent years.

The couple will celebrate 20 years of marriage this year, with Elgan - who has also worked for Sky Sports, ESPN and the BBC - already having rugby in her blood before her and Easterby met, as she is the daughter of former Neath RFC, Wales and Lions wing Elgan Rees. There was, unsurprisingly, also a Welsh rugby connnection at their wedding, with former Scarlets and Wales full-back Matt Cardy acting as Easterby's best man.

Easterby's brother Guy is also a former Irish rugby player who made 28 appearances at Test level, while he also represented the likes of Ebbw Vale, Scarlets and Leinster during his career.

While Elgan and Easterby don't often cross paths at work, they were caught up in an 'awkward' on-screen moment during last year's Six Nations when the presenter ended up interviewing her husband on S4C, following Ireland's win over Wales.

As Easterby was handed a microphone, his wife admitted feeling a bit awkward as she confessed: "I don't know how to interview you!". But the coach reassured her and a long discussion followed, with Elgan joking that it was the most she'd talked about rugby with her husband since they got married.

Closing out the interview, Elgan admitted: "That wasn't as awkward as I thought it was going to be. That was actually much better," before cheekily adding: "Did you pick up your black socks to wear with your suit later?"

Together, the couple have a daughter, Soffia, who was born in 2007 and a son, Ffredi, who was born in 2009. Teenager Ffredi has already shown much promise as a rugby player, and last year captained his school side to victory in a big final at the Principality Stadium.

The match came less than a week after Ireland had claimed the Six Nations title, but Easterby found himself in a different role as he acted as the water carrier for his son's U15 team. With Fredi named as skipper of the Ysgol Bro Morgannwg team, he scored a crucial try to help them to victory over Haverfordwest High to win the Welsh Schools Intermediate Group Year 10 title.

It was not the first trophy the father and son duo had picked up at the home of Welsh rugby, with Ffredi also helping his side to the Year 8 title at the stadium in 2022. That day saw Easterby senior admit he was "more nervous than on most international days," and he would have been on the edge of his seat again as the match came down to the final kick of the ball.

With some of Welsh rugby's biggest talents starting out in these kinds of tournaments, it may not be long until we see Wales and Ireland battling it out to have Easterby Jr. to play for them.