Goodbye and keep the faith!

Rosslyn Park is where my old mate Nick Easter cut his teeth as a junior before going on to bigger things in the Premiership and captaining England on the international stage.

- Chris Bentley

PLYMOUTH Albion travel to Middlesex today to the home of one of England’s most illustrious traditional rugby clubs.

The North London club have an enviable record in launching the careers of many international stars. Danny Cipriani, Paul Ackford, Joe Launchbury and the flying Martin Offiah are just a few of the big names who started their rugby journey at Rosslyn Park. I fully expect there are more to come.

With only one National League club promoted to the Rugby Championship, the race for honours this term is effectively between Rams, Sale FC and Cambridge. Top of the table Rams, on 99 points, are five points clear of second-placed Sale.

Cambridge on 90 points have a game in hand on both Rams and Sale, and that keeps them in the race. Albion fans might like to note that the club’s last game of the season at the Brickfields is against Cambridge.

Currently fourth in the league, Rosslyn are five points ahead of Albi who are fifth. It was my view that Albi should be pushing for promotion with Rosslyn Park next term, and I suspect there will be more than pride and bragging rights at stake today.

Like Martin Luther King: ‘I had a Dream’ and that was to join Albi in the driving seat to guide Plymouth back to its past rugby glory. Sadly, that is no longer the case as I move to pastures new, but the foundations most certainly are built.