Symons Excited for Twickenham Bow

London Irish certainly had a busy off season, with a new coaching team and 13 new players. One signing who has already made a big impression is English lock, Matt Symons.

Symons joined the Exiles from Super Rugby franchise the Chiefs where he built quite a name for himself, being named vice captain.

The former Chiefs lock has certainly been putting a shift in for Tom Coventry’s side, starting every game of the season today and putting in 66 tackles in the process, missing just two.

With the Exiles facing off against Tigers, Exeter, Saracens and Bath in the first four games of the season, it was always going to be a tough start but despite no wins so far in the Premiership, Symons sees the positives.

“They were a tough block of fixtures,” said Symons. “It was a steep learning curve for me and the team but there are a huge amount of positives to pull out of it.

“The start of the season was always going to be a work in progress. Everyone obviously wants the dream start but the reality of it is when you have different coaches coming in, new players- getting everything to gel does take time.”

Week five of the season bought with it the return of the European Challenge Cup, a competition which London Irish reached the quarter finals of last year.

With the competition came the captains armband for Symons, with Club captain George Skivington ruled out through injury.

“It was a real privilege and I was really honoured to be made captain,” said Symons.

“It doesn’t really change my role to be honest, there are a lot of leaders throughout the squad and I just do my role and do my bit and everyone else does their bit and its not too much extra responsibility.”

The Exiles picked up their first win of the season with an eight try victory over Agen, claiming up an all important bonus point. Symons again led the side out last week, where a last minute try from Grenoble stole them the victory as Irish took away the losing bonus point.

“We were really pleased with the Agen performance. It was great to get the win and we put in a really strong performance as well.

“Then on to Grenoble, we had a really strong 60 minutes in the middle but the first and last ten minutes were pretty frustrating.

“The matches were about putting in a good performance and then going from there. Having said that, later on in the competition that bonus point and the one against Agen will be significant."

“After the Grenoble game told the boys I was really proud of the fight back after the start we had,” said Symons, after Irish battled back from an early 14 point deficit at Stade des Alpes.

“I was really proud of the effort and the heart we showed coming back from that. To a certain extent that is sport, that is what happens sometimes. Sometimes we will get it go our way sometimes we get some that happen like Saturday. It is a big learning for me as captain and for the squad in closing games out and something that we will learn a lot from.”

This weekend sees London Irish play host to Wasps at the Twickenham Stadium at the London Double Header, which will be Symons first match at the home of England Rugby.

“I can’t wait for Saturday, I am really excited. I don’t really know what to expect it"

“It will be my first game playing there, I’ve watched a lot of games there on TV and always wanted to play there, same as every player in the country wants to have a run out at Twickenham.

“I am just really excited and expecting a pretty loud crowd and a really good atmosphere, I cant wait.”

Wasps come into the game on a run of good form, having recorded wins over Leinster and Toulon in the last two weeks, and Symons knows the pose a big threat.

“I have watched a lot of their games, all of their last five or so. I am expecting a really tough contest, they have a lot of threat in attack with big ball carriers and some x-factor players.

“Then on the flip side they have a really strong defensive structure and are quick over the ball so it is going to be a really big challenge but we are up for it and really excited.”