Big win

BEATING Nottingham was a big win for the guys and provided further proof that Plymouth Albion are a much-improved side.It was an exciting game, too, especially at the end, and I think the fans at Brickfields enjoyed the match and our performance.We all received a great reception from the fans at the final whistle, particularly Kieran Hallett, who nailed the penalty to give us the 26-25 win.Kieran is a very good player and he had a big, big game us and showed he has a cool head on his shoulders. But to be fair, so did the rest of the team.The guys showed on Saturday there is a lot of talent and spirit in the side, and we’re a whole lot better than when we lost 43-19 at Nottingham in September.We were a team getting to know each other and our performances showed we needed time to gel.
Nottingham are a very good team, so taking their scalp in front of our fans and also getting revenge for our defeat earlier in season was particularly pleasing.It was personally pleasing for me on Saturday to come on and get some valuable game time.I came on as a replacement for Tom Jarvis midway through the second half, but ended up playing around 30 minutes because of injury time at the end.I’ve only been able to get limited first-team action since I returned to Plymouth from the autumn Test series with Canada.I didn’t expect to walk back into the team, particularly with the guys doing so well in mine and my Canadian team-mate Sean Michael-Stephen’s absence.But now I hope to have done enough to give Mr Dawe (Albion chairman of rugby Graham) food for thought and he will consider me for a starting place real soon. I haven’t been happy being out of the team and I don’t suppose anyone would have expected me to be, but hopefully, I will get my chance to start at Manchester this Saturday.Manchester won their first league game of the season at the weekend so they will be in good spirits, but I think we should be strong enough to beat them again. After that we’ve got Newbury at home and all the guys know that when they beat us back in September, we didn’t play well, individually or collectively.We owe the fans a performance against them on January 3 at Brickfields.
THIS will be my first Christmas in Plymouth and I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve spent the festive period in London before, but that was when I was playing in France, and there you have a two to three-week break from rugby.It’s going to be a ‘Canadian Christmas’, though. Sean Michael-Stephen and his wife are coming over, as well as the three Canadians at Cornish Pirates, Ed Fairhurst, Mike Burak and Scott Franklin, plus some friends are coming down from London. But it’ll be a respectful celebration as on Boxing Day, we’ll be travelling up to Manchester.