We’ve had a dream start to our European campaign, securing two big wins which has really inspired confidence. To open we faced Italian side Rovigo, securing an emphatic victory of

70-14 on home soil.

Eoin Griffin deserves a nod for a great debut, putting in some skilful touches and crossing the whitewash to top off a fine performance.

There were a few other players who had a memorable game, with London Irish legend Topsy bagging himself a hat-trick and most impressively our number 10 Mylo (Myles Dorrian), who kicked 10 from 10 to add 25 points to the scoreline. How’s that for a start!

The second game involved a much tougher ask, travelling out to Grenoble to play one of the surprise packages in the French league. With an immaculate home record of five wins in five games, even some of the European giants hadn’t managed to get a win there. However, a clinical performance not only gave us the result we wanted but also got us a valuable bonus point away from home. This sets us up nicely heading into the next leg of European ties in December as we face Cardiff Blues in the Welsh capital first then at home a week later. They too have had a perfect start, notching up two bonus point wins so it promises to be winner takes all!

This week our LV Cup campaign starts with a home fixture against Leicester Tigers. As this competition coincides with the international window it’s traditionally been a tournament where some of the youngsters are given their first taste of senior rugby.

Some exciting prospects at Irish to keep an eye out for are Tom Fowlie, who at 19 years of age has already got an impressive strike rate of four in 11 and Connor Gilsenan, whose work rate on the pitch and larger than life personality have made a big impact since joining from Leinster.

As for me, I’ve been given time off for some rest and recovery so I’m heading home to North Wales to catch up with my parents and Harvey, the family Cocker Spaniel. I’m hoping to get a bit of squash in and seek revenge for my defeat in the summer to the women’s world number 32, Emily Whitlock. I’m yet to tell the boys I lost to a girl! Oops, looks like the secret’s out!