Like all the Ealing Trailfinders players Conor Carey is determined to make up for lost time against London Welsh on Saturday.
The Greene King IPA Championship fixture is the team’s first in three weeks after the Valentine’s Day match Bedford Blues was twice postponed.
For the players it meant they were left kicking their heels and unable to get the previous match’s 46-11 loss to Leeds Carnegie out of their systems.
“We are all really looking forward to getting out there,” Carey said. “We want to get another win under our belts to help push us to safety.
“There is a good excitement around the camp and we are looking forward to playing again and getting out on the pitch, especially because we will be at home, in front of our home crowd and hopefully we can give them something to cheer about.”
Prop forward Carey started the previous match against the Exiles up the M40 at Oxford United’s Kassam Stadium.
Despite finishing on the end of a 28-0 defeat to the promotion hopefuls, the side put up an impressive performance against a team containing players with international and Aviva Premiership experience.
“They are a big strong team, up at the top of the league and are going to be very good,” Carey said. “Last time we played them was one of our best performances, but we only made four mistakes against them and they scored four tries and secured a bonus point.
“We played well, went out and spread the ball and had nothing to lose. This time I don’t think they’ll underestimate us as much.”
Carey is in his first season with the club and it is something of a home-coming for the 23-year-old. Despite his strong Ulster tones and rise through the playing ranks at the province he was actually born in Ealing and lived in the area for two years before his parents moved on to Wales and then Hong Kong.
I’ve really enjoyed it, especially coming ‘home’,” he said. “Despite the results we have a good bunch of boys and the spirit is still high. The season has picked up and we are starting to get into it. We know and other teams know that we are good enough to be here.”
