Poole enjoys top-flight exposure

Having featured earlier in the season during the Premiership Rugby Cup, last Saturday’s outing at Sandy Park was certainly one to savour for the Leeds-born forward.

“I knew with Dickie going away there was the potential that I could be given the nod,” said Poole. “I was quite nervous beforehand, but I like to think that I had done enough over the past weeks with some good games for the Braves.

“I’ve just been waiting for my chance, thankfully Rob’s given me the nod and I said to him afterwards how grateful I am for the opportunity. Hopefully, I can keep putting in the performances and doing well for myself.”

Although Poole’s debut was a short and sweet cameo, the very fact he was out on the field underlines the strides he has already made since making the switch from one end of the country to the other.

"It's been great since moving here,” he added. “The environment and the culture here that the lads have, you hear about it from others, but I’ve enjoyed every single minute of it so far, the lads have been great and got around me, hopefully, I can carry this on into the future."

In what was a tough day at the office for the Chiefs, the home side saw their recent unbeaten run come to a shuddering halt as the Sharks profited from first half scores from Chris Ashton, Dan Du Preez and Bryon McGuigan to go into the break 22-5 up.

Although the Chiefs were much improved after the interval, Sam Simmonds and Tom O’Flaherty adding scores alongside Phil Dollman’s first half try, the hosts had left themselves with too much of a deficit to haul in against a powerful Sharks line-up.

"It was disappointing not to get the result at home, but I’ll remember this day for the rest of my life,” continued Poole. “The boys did well to dig deep and to come back well at the end there. We gained a crucial point, which can add up at the end of the season.

“We knew that it wasn't the performance that we wanted in the first half, we were sloppy in areas, we are a very physical team and we didn't bring that physicality to the first half that we wanted to. We had a good chat at half-time and knew that we had a big job to do in the second half, it was just unfortunate that in the last few minutes if the ball had spilt our way we could have come away with more.”

The good thing about sport, however, is that often you don’t have to wait long to put matters right and Poole will be part of a Chiefs side this weekend who will be looking to overcome Harlequins and book their place in the final of this season’s Premiership Rugby Cup.

"We addressed it in the changing room after, today wasn't our day, but we've got to keep going forward and put in the right performances,” continued Poole. “We know that today wasn't good, so we will come in next week and build up to the Cup semi-final. We’ll look to put this result behind us and build going forward.

“This is just the start for me personally, I just need to keep doing what I'm doing on the training pitch and hopefully, Rob will give me that game time. I’m certainly ready for the task."

Indeed he is and with plenty of experience around him to call upon, Poole is happy to soak up the knowledge of others to benefit his own game.

"I do pick Jack and Luke's brains quite a lot,” he said. Then you’ve got Vis [Elvis Taione] as well. He's got international experience, he's a big, physical guy, and there a lot that I can learn from him and the others."