Hey, I'm Alex Rae and I play lock/backrow for Bedford Blues in the RFU Championship, this is my first blog so go easy on me!
I'm currently in my third season with Bedford Blues after signing from Northampton Saints. This season has been going well as a team and personally, we've just completed the playoff stage of the season topping our pool. I'm not a huge fan of the current playoff system, I'm very much a believer that the team that is top after the regular season is the one who earns the right to be promoted but it is what it is. Saying that as a player it's also very exciting playing knock out rugby which is going to bring some very entertaining rugby for the fans of the four teams involved in the Semi Finals! A lot has been talked about with regards to the Championship and that three out of the four teams won't be able to be promoted, but as a player all you think about is winning silverware, the rest you can't control. Our goal as a team every year is to go one better than the previous year and this year the aim is to reach the final and as a team create some memories to look back on when we all retire.
Each season we've reached the semi final of the championship, losing out to Exeter the first year followed by Worcester last season which arguably was one of the most exciting games I've been involved in. As I write this we are preparing to face London Welsh in this season's semi final which has all the ingredients to be a very entertaining game. Our first training session of the week on Monday consisted of looking at a video of London Welsh as a group of forwards emphasis was on looking at the lineout and scrum. Then it was straight out onto the field where the hard work started and the joys of mauling which resulted in a very bloody nose from the boot of our 20 stone second rows size 14 feet! There's always one clumsy second row in every team I've ever been involved with that regularly causes injury to their own team mates. I do my best to stay well out of their way! We will have another tough session tonight (Wednesday) working on our attacking patterns and our defence, then Thursdays session will be a lot lighter just putting the finishing touches on everything with everything ready to hit the ground running on Friday night in front of a packed Goldington Road. Friday will be my 98th appearance for Bedford if selected of course, so if we get past London Welsh the final would be my 100th appearance for the club and also the quickest player to play a 100 games for Bedford I'm lead to believe which would be a huge honour and something I'll be very proud of.
Away from rugby most of my time is spent with my partner and two year old son Ellis and no his name is nothing to do with Webb Ellis even though everyone seems to think it is due to my profession! I'm also a fan of all sports much to the annoyance of my partner as ill watch anything that's on TV. My first love was always football and for years I was a season ticket holder at Coventry, I don't get the chance to watch them much anymore which maybe isn't a bad thing as they have just been relegated. Film and music is another passion of mine I seem to be in charge of the music at Bedford before games it's not easy pleasing everyone but I like to think I do a good job! Some of the boys have a very acquired taste in music and I refuse to cater for them. Cooking is another thing I enjoy doing id say I specialise in the dessert side of things which isn't good when you're trying to stay in shape during the season!
Well I hope you enjoyed the article which was a little about me, you can also get me on twitter @alex_rae_ it would be great to hear from you all.
