Justin Mensah-Coker

Great to be back

2009-03-16T03:36:00.000-07:00

IT WAS a great feeling playing and scoring a try for Albion again last weekend and just a pity that we were unable to come away from Doncaster with a victory.
Coming up against an in-form team like Doncaster on your first match back is a tough call at any time.
Doncaster had just beaten league leaders Leeds the week before and so their confidence was high.
But I thought we competed well as the closeness of the 28-23 scoreline shows.
In fact, if it hadn’t been for us making some errors, we could have gone on to win.
I hadn’t played for the guys since the Otley game in January, where I suffered a knee injury.
Then I played for Canada in the World Cup Sevens in Dubai, which was great but a real tough call in terms of fitness for me following the knee problem.
I’d only been able to train for about two weeks ahead of the Sevens tournament, which made it all the harder for me.
But I wouldn’t miss the opportunity of playing for my country and, in the end, I really enjoyed it out in Dubai.
We didn’t do as well as I hoped but in our pool stages we knocked off both Scotland and Japan, but lost to South Africa.
Ironically, though, because I’d been playing for my country in the Sevens, which is a pretty gruelling test of your fitness, I think it benefited both me and Albion last Saturday.
I felt sharp and was delighted to score a try and to be playing in such a talented side as we’ve got at Albion.
And, touch wood, I didn’t pick up an injury up at Doncaster, so I’m looking forward to our next league game away this weekend at London Welsh.
That will be another difficult test for us as they’re just coming off a victory over Otley last Saturday.
The Welsh are seventh, one place above us in National Division One, so it looks like it could be another close game like at Doncaster.
We’ll be studying tapes of Welsh this week, where we can work out their strengths and weaknesses.
We’ve also got the advantage of having played them already in the league this season at Brickfields.
We lost by a point (25-24) at our place in September, another narrow defeat and a match, like last Saturday, that we perhaps deserved to win.
We’ll be looking forward to playing at home again – it seems like a while since we have.
I’m sure the supporters have been as frustrated as we’ve been at the way the fixture list has panned out this year.
But we’ll be at home Saturday week, when Bedford are the visitors, who gained a great win over Leeds last weekend.
That was Leeds’ second defeat in a row – which has thrown wide open the title race again, and also gives Exeter a chance of promotion.
But our priorities are to win matches for Albion and that’s what we’ll be hoping to do on Sunday up at Old Deer Park.

2009-03-03T09:28:00.000-08:00

I AM really looking forward to representing Canada in the (IRB) World Cup Sevens tournament in Dubai this weekend (March 5-7).
It will be my second time playing in Dubai – I was there for a sevens event four or five years ago and it was a lovely place to play rugby.
It has probably changed quite a bit since then. When I was last there, they were carrying out the dredging for the Palms development.
That is all finished now and it is supposed to look spectacular, so I am really looking forward to seeing what it looks like now that it is completed.
As for the competition, we have three, tough matches to play against Scotland, South Africa and Japan, respectively.
In the past, we have beaten each of those three teams, so we can head into the tournament fairly confident. But we are under no illusions of how tough each of the games will be.
Of the three sides we are playing, I would imagine South Africa will be the strongest. Playing them will be a big challenge for us a team, but it will be a measure of how good a Sevens team we are.
We will target the two games against Scotland and Japan as ones we will really try and win.
However, they are good teams and both have been capable of putting out strong squads in the past.
Previously, we have had good competition with Scotland, so I think the game against them will be a good one.
Hopefully, we will beat both them and then Japan and qualify for the latter stages of the competition.
This is the first year that Canada haven’t competed on the full Sevens circuit, so it will be a real challenge for the team in Dubai playing against some top sides.
Whether it be 15-a-side or Sevens, Canada’s squad is always only coming together last minute before a tournament.
There is not often a lot of time to prepare and that can make it harder for the players.
Unfortunately, we are not as skilled as New Zealand, so we have to work a lot harder than a lot of the other teams.
But, even though it will be a big challenge for us in Dubai, I am thoroughly looking forward to the prospect of playing there and doing my best to try and help Canada do well in the tournament.
Aside from the other teams, one of the most challenging things we will have to combat as players is the Dubai heat.
It is going to be tough playing in intense heat, so I am sure all the players are hoping to be able to acclimatise as quickly as possible.
Unfortunately, we aren’t going to have long to prepare for it – there will be only three days of training from touching down in Dubai to playing our first game.
However, as long as we take in plenty of water at regular intervals and compete as a unit instead of individuals, we should be fine.

I WILL miss Albion’s match against Sedgley Park on Saturday and that is a shame because I haven’t played for my team since the Otley game in January.
But I did speak to (chairman of rugby) Graham Dawe about being selected for the Canadian Sevens squad and the opportunity to play in Dubai and he was very understanding of the situation.
Graham was very supportive – he appreciated what a big opportunity it was for me and he was very encouraging of me to go out there and play.

On the comeback

2009-02-10T09:21:00.000-08:00

I AM getting ever closer to making a return to playing having not played since last month’s 23-15 win over Otley.
I had a scan last week which confirmed I had suffered between a first degree and a second degree tear to my medial collateral ligament in that match.
That usually means about three weeks out, but recovery can take anything up to four or five weeks.
It has now been just over three weeks since I got the injury.
I am just taking it day by day and doing everything I can to give myself the best chance of getting back playing fully fit.
I am eager to come back because it has been very frustrating sat watching from the sidelines.
But you have to be sensible about it as I certainly don’t want to do any long term damage by rushing back when I am not fully ready.
I don’t know if I would be fit this weekend should the club arrange a match, but I certainly hope to be ready for the home league game against Rotherham on February 21.
In the meantime, I will just concentrate on doing my rehab and making sure I give myself a good chance of being available for selection for the Rotherham game.
I always like playing in games, but I particularly like playing at home in front of the Albion fans.

THE recent cold weather has had a big impact on the fixtures and could see us play just one game in the whole of February.
That is not ideal and depending on what happens with the weather in the next few weeks and the progress of certain teams in the National Trophy, it could see us have to play a game or two in the week towards the end of the season.
We are already have to catch up on two matches against London Welsh and Moseley and we may yet to have re-arrange some more.
I hope it doesn’t come to that because playing on the weekend, and then in the week would be a big ask for the players.
I WATCHED the first round of matches in the Six Nations over the weekend and I thought it was great entertainment.
I was up in London because my father lives there and I managed to watch all three matches.
I was a little disappointed with the England versus Italy game, but the Ireland/France match was a really good one.
There was plenty of good rugby and some superb tries – it really was a fantastic game to watch.
Wales beat Scotland easily enough, but it is hard to say after just one round of matches who looks the more likely to win the Six Nations title.
Wales are trying to defend their title and they do look a good side. It is starting to look like they are going to be on top, but like in any professional sport, any team can beat any other on any given day and that could prove the case in this season’s competition.
I am really looking to forward to the next round of matches this weekend and to see who will end up the overall winner.

Injury worry

2009-01-27T12:54:00.000-08:00

I HURT my knee during Saturday’s win over Otley at Brickfields.
I did it in the second half, but I am not sure how I did it.
It turns out I have tweaked my MCL and it could be touch-and-go whether I will be fit for this weekend’s Devon derby against Exeter at Sandy Park.
I am just going to have to see how it goes this week.
I am not going to do a lot this week and just hope it will get better before the weekend. Fingers crossed I will be fit, but we’ll just have to wait and see.
You don’t want to miss any game, but especially not one as big as Exeter and not when I have just got back in the team.
But if I can play this weekend I will.
I was enjoying myself against Otley before I got injured.
I was lucky enough to get a bit of ball, especially in the first half, and I was able to run around a bit, which is what I like to do.
I felt I had a couple of decent runs on Saturday.
We got the win, which was important, but in the second half we gave Otley a bit too much leeway and allowed them back into the match.
They got a bit of momentum and confidence and it ended up being closer than we would have liked.
We put ourselves under a bit of needless pressure and we were hanging on to the win at the end.
But at the end of the day a win is a win.
The game also saw my Canadian compatriot Sean-Michael Stephen score his first try for Albion.
But it was me who did all the hard work and he was just there to finish it off!
We had a laugh about that yesterday.
He joked he was running beside me hoping I would get tackled so that he could score.
It was his first try so he was happy.
Sean-Michael works really hard. His work-rate is top-notch. He gets around the field very well and he was there for the off-load.
Hopefully, he can score a couple more tries before the end of the season – starting this weekend against Exeter.
I have to say was impressed by the crowd on Saturday against Otley.
It was great to see so many people turn out and support the team.
It shows that people are willing to get behind the club and the team.
The Otley game came at the end of a tough week for the club.
But when it comes down to it the players are just there to play and enjoy themselves on the field.
The guys put everything that had gone on behind them when they took to the field on Saturday.
Last week’s news (about the budget shortfall) was a bit of a shock to the majority of players.
As a player no one likes to hear news like that, but these are tough times for everyone.
Everyone is being affected by the economic climate worldwide.
When you are affected it is not nice, but when you look at the bigger picture you realise there is a lot of people worse off.
The current situation is not ideal, but it is something the team and the club just have to get through.
I am sure this team will continue to stick together for the rest of the season.
We are all keen to do well this weekend.
It is another derby match and, hopefully, there will be a good amount of our supporters going up for the game.
If we could turn Exeter over it would be huge for us, but we know it won’t be easy to do that.
They have got a very big squad and an outstanding rugby team, but I would back us on a particular day. I believe we can beat them.
Unfortunately, we have lost another player, Keni Fisilau, to long-term injury.
It has been a really tough year for us on the injury front and most seem to have been long-term injuries, like David Palu, James Tideswell and Martin Rice. We have had some horrific knee injuries. I think we have been pretty unlucky this season, but the way this sport is you know there is a risk of getting injured.
Hopefully, we won’t get too many more this season.
But some of the injuries we have suffered have been really freaky. Nat Saumi’s finger injury, where he broke it in a warm-up, was definitely one of those. You almost had to laugh about it because it was one of those things that should not have happened.
But as a club we just have to get on with it. The injuries have given other players opportunities and I think it has made the team stronger. From one to 35, everyone has had to play their part.

A case of the Blues

2009-01-07T10:22:00.000-08:00

SATURDAY’S game against Newbury Blues was frustrating.
Our performance was not what we were looking for.
I don’t know what it was that made us underperform, but we’ll have to watch the video and see what we need to do ahead of this weekend’s game against London Welsh.
We did play well in patches against Newbury. We made quite a few line breaks. Geoff Griffiths got through a couple of times and Liam Gibson also did but we did not finish opportunities off.
We had been on a bit of streak before Saturday and playing some good rugby, so to slip up against Newbury was frustrating, but we can’t dwell on that. We just have to move on to the next game.
Newbury, despite their position in the table, are not a bad team. They play some reasonable rugby. And you can’t take anything away from them as they put some good phases together.
Yet we know we did not do ourselves justice in front of a really good crowd.
There were a lot of people watching, especially kids, and it was a shame we could not give them even more to cheer about.
But you do have these games once in a while and at least we did not lose.
Alex Davies produced a fantastic conversion to level the game after Geoff had scored in the corner.
I know Alex is a good kicker, so I would always back him, but it was a tough kick.
Luckily he did kick it and that made the difference between getting a draw or losing.
This weekend we are at London Welsh, who beat us by one point at home early in the season.
It will be very tough game at Old Deer Park, especially after London Welsh’s good win at Bedford last Saturday.
I have never played there before, but I always enjoy going to different clubs.
I think Greg Nicholls is looking forward to the game as he played for them last season.
I HAD a really good Christmas, even though we had a game at Manchester on December 27.
I had a load of Canadians come over to my flat for Christmas Day.
I had the Canadian lads who played for the Cornish Pirates, a guy who plays for Esher and one who plays for Oxford. They all came with their girlfriends, while Sean-Michael Stephen, his wife and mother and father also came.
I really had a house full, but it was great and we had so much food left over.
ALTHOUGH I am Canadian, I am not a fan of the cold weather we have been having the last few weeks.
I have not lived in Canada for a while now, so I am not accustomed to the cold anymore.
Back at home in Vancouver they are having quite a bit of snow, which is unusual. I am just glad it is not that cold here.

Big win

2008-12-22T08:58:00.000-08:00

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.

Tough couple of days

2008-12-09T11:07:00.000-08:00

IT HAS been a tough couple of days with us losing at Leeds on Sunday and the Warriors going down to Exeter last night.
As I only played for about 15 minutes on Sunday at Leeds, last night’s game offered me a chance to have a run out, which was good.
It is always tough playing Exeter. With them having a squad of 45-50 full-time professionals any team they put out is going to be good.
They don’t really have a second team. They can put out pretty much a first team squad every time they play so it was always going to be a tough match.
It was difficult because some of us were playing with each other for the first time.
I have not played before with a lot of the younger guys.
But it was a good run out, but in those conditions the ball was not really going to come wide much.
Sunday was disappointing. But we knew going to Leeds was going to be a tough test. We knew we had to be A+ to win the game.
We came out strong and scored early and we put them on their heels a bit.
Throughout the game we produced a lot of good play when we had the ball in hand and we did attack them, but we just slipped up a few times defensively. And you can’t afford to do that against top teams because the reason why they are at the top is because they are really sharp and will take their chances.
Obviously any loss is disappointing, but we have to take the positives and bring them to the game against Coventry this weekend.
That is going to be another tough match for us.
It is another away game and any fixture on the road is hard. In this league teams play better at home.
We beat them down here on the opening day of the season so they are going to be hoping to get their revenge.
It will be a tough task but I think we are up to the challenge.
I don’t think the loss at Leeds has knocked our spirit or confidence.
We did not lose to a lesser team and I don’t think it has taken the wind from our sails.
We had been playing well and we have to believe in ourselves.
You have to learn from every week and try and fix problems. Hopefully, we can do that.
I have been on the bench the last couple of weeks after returning from three weeks away with Canada.
Like I said before I went away it is always tough leaving as people will take your spot. Now it is up to me to try and get it back.
I am a firm believer that no one is entitled to a jersey. You have to earn it.
Other people have earned their places while me and Sean-Michael Stephen have been away. Now my job is to get my place back.
I am desperately keen to get back as I want to get a few more tries.
Matt Hopper (pictured above) has now joined me on four tries for the season after scoring against Leeds, Cornish Pirates and twice against Esher.
He has got a pretty good strike-rate getting four in three games and he’s brought a challenge to me.
He has come into the team and really stepped up, which is good to see.

Glad Albion won without me

2008-11-11T02:35:00.000-08:00

I MISSED Albion’s win over Doncaster on Saturday as I was playing for Canada against Ireland in Limerick.
But I was very pleased to see that the team won. I talked to a couple of the Albion boys on Saturday evening and I was so happy to hear that they had claimed another victory.
It was a huge win for the club and it shows that we are continuing on the up and up. I think everyone can see that there is a lot more confidence in the team now.
I really want the team to perform well while I’m away – even though it could make it tough for me to get back into the side.
I know when I come back I can’t expect to step straight back into the side if the person who has taken my position has been performing well.
But I like a challenge and it will be one to try and get my position back.
MY game for Canada against Ireland was very tough.We lost 55-0 but I don’t think they are 50 points better than us.
We just made quite a few mistakes – handling errors and missing some first up tackles – and they capitalised on them.Don’t get me wrong, Ireland are a good side, but we are a lot better than we showed on Saturday.
Both me and Sean-Michael (Stephen) started the match.I was quite happy with how I defended, but I did not get chance to make any game breaks, which I would have liked.
The conditions were terrible. We had a torrential downpour during the game and the wind was very strong, so it was not ideal conditions to throw the ball around, which is why I didn’t see a lot of it.We now play Wales at the Millennium Stadium on Friday night.
We flew to Cardiff on Sunday and we had a training session there yesterday.
I’m told the roof will be closed on the stadium on Friday, so conditions won’t be a factor in the match.
I have played under the roof once before when Canada played Wales two years ago.I did not start that game, but I came on in the second half and it was a good experience.
Hopefully, on Friday we can show we are a better team than we showed against Ireland.
Because I am playing for Canada I will miss Albion’s game away at Bedford, as will Sean-Michael.
Bedford’s James Pritchard, who was at Albion, is in the Canada squad and there is sure to be a bit of banter between him and Sean-Michael and myself.
There is always a lot of banter between the guys playing for rival National Division One clubs.
We have got a few guys from the Cornish Pirates and the week before we joined up together they had beaten Bedford, so they were giving James Pritchard some stick.
Hopefully, the Albion boys will perform well at Goldington Road and give me something to brag about.
James is pretty confident Bedford are going to win, but I’m confident Albion will.
BEFORE I met up with the Canadian squad I went to watch the Plymouth Raiders play.
I went with Alex Davies and we both enjoyed it.
I will definitely be going to watch some more games.However, although I enjoy watching and shooting a few hoops I have no regrets about choosing rugby over basketball.

We have to take the positives out of draw

2008-10-31T09:02:00.000-07:00

IT WAS a bit disappointing to come away from Rotherham with only a 10-10 tie and two points.
We played really well as a team and to be leading 10-7 heading into injury-time and not win the game is quite hard to take.
We had worked hard to get ourselves into a good position to take all four points. But we gave away a penalty, which they kicked, and that was that, really.
But we have to take the positives from the match and when you consider that no Plymouth side has won at Rotherham in the league, we have to be happy with the tie and with the two points.
The weather conditions were very difficult, with the rain and the wind making it tough for both sides.
But we battled on throughout the match and I think that our performance at Clifton Lane was proof of the spirit which exists within the squad.
I won’t say we are playing 100 per cent to our ability just yet, but we are improving week-by-week and we are making good progress.We are starting to play some good rugby and the understanding between the players is really starting to gel.
I believe our performance at Rotherham was something for us to build on and if we can beat Sedgley Park at Brickfields on Saturday, then we can, hopefully, build some momentum as we head towards the halfway stage of the season.

SATURDAY’S match against Sedgley Park is my last one for Plymouth before I head off to play for my country, Canada, in their matches against Ireland, Wales and Scotland.
Both Sean-Michael (Stephen) and myself will miss the three league games against Doncaster, Bedford and Esher.
But because of that, I am determined to leave with a bang and that means helping Plymouth to victory on Saturday.
Ideally, I would also like to score a try, but the main thing is that Albion get the win and we continue our unbeaten run.I
haven’t played against Sedgley Park before, so I don’t know what to expect from them.
But if we just look at the league table (Park are fourth from bottom) and think we are in for an easy time of it, then we will suffer for that.Any team in National Division One can beat any other and so we have to prepare right for the game and make sure we are fully focused.
If we do that, hopefully, we will get the win and I can head off for three weeks on a positive note. I do not want to be coming off the pitch at the end of Saturday’s match not having won the game.

I AM going to watch the Plymouth Raiders basketball team play for the first time on Wednesday night when they face Milton Keynes in the BBL.
I am a big basketball fan and I am really looking forward to the occasion.I will drag along one of my team-mates to watch the game and, hopefully, we can witness a Raiders win.
I think it is important that players from one of the club’s in the city supports players from another.

Derby defeat gutting

2008-10-17T02:59:00.000-07:00

IT WAS very disappointing to lose to Exeter on Saturday.
These are the games you want to do well in.
Exeter are a good team and so we expected a very tough match, but it was very disappointing to lose by the scoreline we did. We felt the score did not really reflect how the game went.
We gave Exeter some easy tries, especially near the end of the game.
However, the match could have been a lot closer than it ended up.
Although we were all disappointed to lose like that, the guys are still positive.
We felt we played quite well and so we have to take the positives away and use them for this weekend’s game against Moseley.
I have to say, though, the atmosphere on Saturday at Brickfields was fantastic.
I kind of knew what to expect having been to watch the Pirates play Exeter, but I think it was even better than expected.
It would be fantastic if we could play in front of that support every game.
I DID get voted the man of the match by the sponsors on Saturday.
That’s the first time I have picked up the award and it was nice.
But I do not know how anyone can select a man of the match in rugby as so many guys play different roles over 80 minutes. I think it is hard to find one definite man of the match, but saying that I was very flattered to be chosen. Hopefully, I can keep putting in performances of a similar standard.
IT WAS very sad to see David (Palu) and Geoff (Griffiths) suffer injuries so early in Saturday’s match.
Dave was just coming into form and getting some game time. An injury like he suffered is likely to put him out for a while.
Geoff had also been playing well. He also had an injury at the beginning of the season.
I have had injuries in the past that have kept me out for a while and it is tough to deal with.
It can also be hard when you come back to get your confidence back, but, hopefully, Dave and Geoff will be back soon.
We have managed to pick up quite a few injuries and the challenge is how we deal with them as a team.
THERE has been a lot in the newspapers about Josh Lewsey punching Danny Cipriani during training.
I would not say things like that happen a lot, but I suppose it depends on the team.
I don’t think it would happen at Albion as we are a very close bunch.
Guys sometimes get frustrated at each other, but we are all men and I think we can all sort it out without throwing fists. I just cannot what happened Lewsey and Cipriani happening at Albion.
I AM hoping to maybe get to the basketball this weekend to see the Raiders.
I have been checking out their fixtures seeing when I can go and watch them. I am looking forward to it.

Graham Dawe is a hard man

2008-09-30T11:36:00.000-07:00

HAVING Graham Dawe (Albion’s 49-year-old chairman of rugby) on the field is interesting, because I’ve never had the situation where the head coach is on the field at the same time as me.
It’s maybe not necessarily an ideal situation, because he’s having to step up because our injury situation at hooker.
But it’s not like he steps up on a Saturday without having done the work over the week.
Obviously, he loves the game and during training, he’s always stepping in to be part of it.
He is a hard man and I think the opposition try to hit him that little bit harder when he does step onto the field, possibly because he’s played for Bath and England.
But at the end of the game, he always walks off the field.
I will say though that at Graham’s age, there’s no way I want to be playing at the standard he’s playing at the moment.
I’ll be sitting somewhere with my feet up, hopefully sipping margueritas.

BEING in Plymouth has worked out well for me – we’re five games into the season now and I feel like I’m pretty settled.
I know what to expect when we play and the calibre of the team you expect. You never really know until you’re out there.
National One was always going to be a good competition to play in, because I believe the gap is narrowing between the division and the Premiership.
I played in the Premiership in France and the gap was closing there between us and National One.
What you’re seeing is more and more money being put into the divisions, with the result that there is not as much difference in calibre.
That means you can’t afford to be complacent, whichever team you’re playing, and think it’s going to be an easy game.
In every team, you’ve got players who can play a bit of rugby, so you can’t go into games assuming you can walkover teams.
You have to be motivated for games. It’s part of the job and I can only speak for myself, but you have certain routines which you follow to help you motivate yourself for the game, although it’s more difficult when you’re on the road, because you can’t always do the same things.
I am enjoying myself in Plymouth – I like being here. As I said, we’re only five games into the season and in a couple of the games, results haven’t been what we would have wanted, for various reasons.
But we play rugby to enjoy the game – although sometimes I have to remind myself of that fact.

Great to score first try

2008-09-16T10:11:00.000-07:00

IT WAS great to finally cross the line for my first try in Albion colours on Saturday against Manchester.

I was beginning to think it wasn’t going to happen. Hopefully, it will be like a snowball effect now and I will keep scoring.

It was especially nice to score my first try at home.

There was some pretty good support there on Saturday and we would probably have had more supporters had Plymouth Argyle not been at home as well.

It was a really important win for us against Manchester after the scoreline the previous week.

We wanted to show the rest of the league that we didn’t deserve to lose by as much as we did at Nottingham and that the team can perform – and I think we did that on Saturday.

We scored 47 points but we could have scored more.

Saturday was also the first time I had seen Graham Dawe play a game.

I thought he performed quite well. I did not know what to expect having not seen him play before, but you have to respect the fact that he can still hold his own.

SINCE my last column Sean-Michael Stephen has arrived at Albion.

It is always nice to have another countryman and a familiar face at the same club as you, although I have made some really good friends here.

I have known Sean-Michael for years. We went to the Canadian Rugby Academy.

It is nice to have him here and he has integrated well into the team already. Everyone has made him feel welcome, just like they did with me, and I am just looking forward to seeing him show what he can do out on the pitch.

Sean-Michael, his wife and myself went down to Camborne on Sunday to watch the Cornish Pirates takes on Exeter.

The Pirates have three Canadians playing for them, which is why we went.

It ended up being a really good game and I am now really looking forward to playing in the derby matches against Exeter and the Pirates.

There was a great turnout for Sunday’s game and I am told that some of the derby games attract even bigger crowds – if that is the case then it will be great.

I DO really want to go and watch the Plymouth Raiders play.

I am so keen to check out some of their games.

I am a big basketball fan, I played a lot at High School and had some scholarship offers to play in the US.

I have missed watching live basketball. It has been a while since I watched a game.

The club I played for in France was in quite a small town.

The only top league sports teams they had were the rugby club and a women’s volleyball team.

We went along to support the women’s volleyball team and they came to support us, but, unfortunately, there was not any basketball. I did, though, become an avid volleyball fan.

I am a sports fanatic. I have appreciation for all sports.

I definitely want to go see Argyle play as well. They are in a good division and I didn’t have any football to watch in France either.

Football is really big in this country. Everyone has a team they follow, but I don’t, I just enjoy watching it.

Enjoyable debut

2008-09-03T10:09:00.000-07:00

MAKING my Albion debut against Coventry last Saturday was a very good experience.

It was great for the team to get a win against a good and determined Coventry side.

It was also great for me to run out in front of the Plymouth fans for the first time.

The match was my first taste of National Division One rugby and I thought the standard of play was really high.

Coventry were a physical side to play against and made it difficult for us.

But we managed to overcome them and get the result we wanted.

I was happy enough with my own performance and I thought, as a team, we played okay.

There were some aspects of our play which were not so good – our final pass was not always the greatest and our decision making sometimes let us down.

But I thought our performance was an improvement on the match we played the week before against Neath.

It wasn’t the perfect display, but the main objective of starting the season off with a victory was achieved and that is the main thing.

We can now look to build on that and we can head to Nottingham on Sunday in good spirits.

THE away match at Nottingham on Sunday is going to be a really tough test.

They are a very good side, who did really well to finish third in National Division One last season.

But, after our win on Saturday, we have to be confident that we can go to Meadow Lane and give them a real game.

We have to remember that the match against Coventry was our first of the season and with a new-look team.

The more the game went on, the better we were, and hopefully that improvement will continue at Nottingham.

I am quite sure that the more we play together and the more the season goes on, we will become a better team.

I INTEND to enjoy making the most of playing for Plymouth Albion and I really want to enjoy this season.

Of course, my main objective is to score tries and to help the team win as many matches as we can.

But the main reason why I – and every other player – took up the game in the first place was because we enjoy playing.

Too many players go out onto the pitch and forget it is a game – a game which they enjoy.

For me, if I started to not enjoy the game at any stage, I would ask myself, ‘What is the point of playing?’

I will look to play this season giving 110 per cent, but I will also play with a smile on my face.