Powell – “We’re taking the right steps”

Thursday 09 October 2014 Written by: Adam


Adam Powell was one of the happiest of smiling face last Sunday as he and his team mate notched up their first win of the season against Exeter Chiefs and is now calling on the team to repeat the feat, when they travel to London Welsh this Saturday in the Aviva Premiership.

The match will mark the first time the two clubs have faced each other in the top flight of domestic rugby union and Powell says it is a game the whole team is looking forward to.
“Everyone is just looking forward to the weekend now. It is a big game and we know that Welsh will be approaching this as their cup final, thinking that this is a game that they will have targeted to win.”

“It is an away game in the Aviva Premiership and they are never easy, so we know we are going to have to prove to ourselves that we can delivery consistency in our performances.”
Consistency in performance was something that was in evidence against Exeter Chiefs last weekend, with excellent running lines and hands playing their part in a well deserved win and Powell hopes the re-acquaintance with the winning feeling will be infectious.

“It was an amazing feeling to get back into a winning dressing room and see the smiles on everyone’s faces. There was a bit of relief but mainly it was just brilliant to get that feeling back.”

“The win was the last step we needed, we have been playing good rugby this year and scoring tries and we have been trying to get an improved level of accuracy so we aren’t making as many mistakes or coughing up ball and letting other teams get on top of use if they haven’t earned the right to.”

“We’ve got to keep working on it, and keep improving as we’ve only won one game but I definitely think we’re taking the right steps.”

Contributing towards those right steps, Powell is beginning to build an exciting partnership with Gonzalo Tiesi, one the former England Saxon hopes will continue to flourish in forthcoming weeks.

“The combination with Gonzalo is starting to come together and hopefully if we can keep playing well together then we’ll have more opportunity to develop.”

“Even though we’ve both been together at the club for a year, we’ve not played that many games as a pairing because either he was injured but now we are we’re building the links and understandings key to a successful pairing.”

“When centres form a good partnership, they just understand each other and don’t really need to talk that much out on the field, you just start to read each other really well and we are getting closer to that.”

Should that partnership continue in this week’s squad, it will be cheered on at the Kassam by a strong contingent of Falcons fans who will have a key role to play in spurring the team on towards back to back Premiership victories.

“We always get a good travelling support and I always find it amazing when you think we are so far away from everyone but I’m sure they will be really vocal and the lads will really appreciate that.”

“The way the crowd got behind us against Exeter was amazing, they stuck by us, there were some tricky moments in that second half and it would have been easy to get on our backs but instead we got that support that was amazing, it will be good to hear that again on Saturday”