IT is a pleasure to welcome Camborne to Old Bath Road for this afternoon’s National One fixture.

It is our first-ever game against Town and I’m very excited.

Their away record of five wins from five so far is incredible because obviously the travel is in theory a challenge.

We look at our trip to them as a long one and an overnight, but outside of Plymouth, maybe Dings, we might be their third nearest away game.

They’ve done extremely well so far and they’re a Cornish club with a long tradition.

I’ve been to their ground with Berkshire Under 20s and it’s got a great atmosphere, they take their rugby very seriously, as every club in Cornwall does, and they’ve clearly got a very good set-up.

Fantastic Fraser a true example

I’m especially pleased to welcome one of their summer signings, Fraser (Honey), back here today.

He is the most dedicated player we’ve ever had, bar none. And we’ve had some unbelievably dedicated players.

But to travel three-and-a-half hours from Bude to Old Bath Road three times a week, I didn’t know how he’d make it work, but he did.

Indeed, it was down to his commitment and organisational skills, which were perfect for two years other than having a baby!

Fraser is a great example to any youngster of how to get the very best from your career.

If you’re going to play this level, it’s not just how you organise your training and playing, it’s how you organise your life.

A lot of people probably don’t realise how much these guys put in.

They’re not full-time, they’re holding down jobs as well, and it’s hugely demanding to be successful at National One as a part-time pro.

I think Fraser did it as well as anybody I’ve ever come across, although I thought he was absolutely balmy when he agreed to sign for us.

‘You do into the trenches with any of these now’

Seven days ago at Plymouth, 21-0 down in eight minutes and down to 14 men, I thought ‘this will go one of two ways’.

It could be 80 to 100 points and we implode, or we’re going to say ‘we’ll fight our way out of this’.

There’s an old Churchill phrase ‘when you’re going through hell, keep going’, and I thought the boys kept going magnificently.

And as the game went on, they began to show if it weren’t for the first eight minutes, we may have run a very good Plymouth side close.

From the outside people ask how things are in the squad when you’re in this situation.

The truth is they are highly motivated, very committed and we’re beginning to see the sinews, the relationships, the understanding of each other, come about.

I believe in defeat in Devon we continued to transform from a collection of new players to a side, and Ant Marris summed it up marvellously afterwards.

He’s been here almost a decade, 122 caps. We signed 16 new players in the summer.

And he said: “You looked around wondering which ones will throw the toys out the pram and storm off in the next 72 minutes, go missing, and which will fight through.”

At the end: “You’d go into the trenches with any of these now. And that’s because they’ve proved they’ll go the distance for each other. It was a big moment.”

Thanks to the Lynchs and a big lunch

I’m delighted we have Duncan Lynch Precision Engineering as our matchday sponsor today – and the lunch numbers are the best of the season.

Very simply the club would not be in the position it is without the Lynch family.

It’s not just Andy, it’s Hannah, our new Director of Finance, and Alison, whose done loads over the years.

Clubs are very fortunate if you have families like them. I know lots of people who they’ve helped and if you have them on your side, you’re always likely to win.

They’ve been fantastic and it’s nice we’ve got lots of their family and friends up to also celebrate Hannah’s birthday!

Colts take on Chinnor in Cup and some huge pre-Christmas games

Tomorrow we host the Colts’ National Cup last 64 game against old rivals and friends Chinnor.

The relationship between the two clubs has always been excellent.

There’s no love lost on the pitch, but there’s a tremendous amount of respect off it. That’s a wonderful thing to have.

It’s nice to have as a local derby and I’m looking forward to coming up, hopefully with a good crowd along as well.

Moving forward towards 2027, there are two more exciting first-team fixtures before Christmas.

And if you want to enjoy sit-down food, I suggest you book quickly because they’ve both close to selling out already!

Tor’s cooking is so good and starting with London Scottish on Friday December 4, that will be an unbelievable curry, we then have the Christmas lunch against Dings Crusaders on Saturday 19.

Next week and in between those two games we have Sheffield and Cambridge away, which is just a reminder of what a great league this is!

Ending on today, though, I’m sure there will be plenty of Cornish flags around the ground which will make for a fantastic atmosphere.

The bigger lunch numbers and surge of bookings I think confirms there’s a palpable feel around the place we’re kicking on.

And I hope our supporters can show that with plenty of noise to help the team to victory.