Television highlights, pitch side interviews, featured analysis – not the immediate terms that spring to mind when discussing a Division Three West A game between Neyland and Pembroke Dock Harlequins.

Unless of course, Phil Steele is among the visitors.

And sure enough, the renowned rugby broadcaster was at the Athletic Club for that very clash last Saturday as part of his ‘good feud guide’, a weekly segment on BBC rugby show Scrum V that reviews a lower league game from the previous day.

However, as he explained to Telegraph Sport before kick off, the fixture wasn’t quite selected at random.

“My wife is from Pembroke Dock and my late wife’s ashes are scattered in Little Haven so I have great connections with Pembrokeshire. So what better game to come and watch the clash of the Cleddau?

“The club game needs a profile in Wales and that’s why I like to do the ‘good feud guide’.

“Its important people know there is rugby below pro and semi-pro level.”

Steele’s presence at any venue tends to be popular. To many he is the light-hearted presenter, the entertainer, the guy who’ll always crack a joke irrespective of whether he’s after dinner speaking or reporting live on camera.

But behind the jovial persona lies an intelligent rugby mind, a realist in touch with fans at both end of the scale. A former Newport RFC full back, Steele’s dream of playing for Wales was cut short by injury. The debilitating issues that followed, enhanced by a string of personal tragedies, are now well documented. The courage he showed in overcoming his demons, equally so.

He knows the highs and lows that both sport and life entail. And when it comes to grassroots rugby, he gets it.

He gets the historical value of the local game. He gets the problems it faces moving forward. And he gets that standing still and longing for the good old days won’t fix matters.

“The enthusiasm on the pitch is still there,” he explained.

“But the enthusiasm to actually get on the pitch is not what it was. The playing numbers have dropped and it’s as hard and tough as ever to get guys out there.”

But why?

“Nowadays, the game is so physical all the way down the levels. Even in the lower divisions you have to be a big, strong lad to play.

“But the modern player has so much more on now – like girlfriends, Saturday jobs, or going off to University.

“What we have here with amateur rugby is a 100-year-old situation. Society has changed so much since I was playing but maybe rugby hasn’t caught up with that yet – and I think we could soon be heading for a bit of a correction.

“I hate to say this but we may be looking at slimmer format in the future. Clubs going to the wall and being replaced by mergers or hubs so to speak.”

Of course, rugby is not alone in its problems.

Dwindling numbers in amateur football and cricket has long been an issue in Pembrokeshire and beyond, but with the latter sport at least, there is greater scope for change.

Shorter formats, rule alterations, earlier start times - all flexible concepts in a game like cricket. But in rugby union, what will it take to persuade the idle 18-year-old to rise from bed on a Saturday morning, and get on a bus to risk being bumped from pillar to post for 80 minutes?

According to Steele, the key lies with the word ‘enjoyment’, and not the type that arises from scoring tries.

“When I was playing in Ely the late 60s and 70s, I played rugby instead of football because the social side was so much better.

“I remember at 16 going on a jumbo jet to Canada on a youth tour. To get that opportunity as a young boy was special.

“Teams don’t really tour properly these days and you don’t get the sing songs or fun after games that you used to. Even when I went on to play first class rugby at Newport I used to enjoy the day out as much as I did the 80 minutes on the field.

“If we could get back the social side of things and the entertainment factor then that would be a big plus. And I don’t mean entertainment for spectators at games, but for the players themselves. Make the day out as important as the result.”

Perhaps that’s easier said than done. But he’s right, grassroots rugby must find a way to present Saturday afternoons an attractive concept to players, rather than a chore begrudgingly fulfilled out of duty.

Because as Steele duly points out, the game’s historical significance in Wales is too great to go to waste.

“Rugby is such an integral part of Welsh culture, just in the same way a male voice choir is for example.

“And particularly in a place like Pembrokeshire, the game can have a really positive effect on the identity of a town or village.

“It’s such an important part of life and we have to keep fighting for it.”

Like I said, he gets it.