Richard Palframan has described his first London Irish Aviva Premiership start as ‘an awesome experience’.
The Exiles claimed an encouraging 25-23 win over Sale Sharks with Palframan impressing for Glenn Delaney’s improving outfit.
“I was really nervous driving to the game,” Palframan admitted. “When I got there my nerves calmed when I met all of the boys. They gave me tips and some words of advice.
“It was an awesome experience. It was great to be on the field. It was great to have the boys around me supporting me.
“They were speaking to me through the whole game and it was awesome to have the support behind me.”
With three matches remaining in the campaign Palframan is hoping to sample more action before the summer.
“The belief was great. It was awesome to prove myself against the very good scrum Sale have. Obviously I can do my best. I have to do a job out there; I thought I did quite well.
“I'm still young and learning. I've got to keep my head down to do well in training. I have to keep training hard. Hopefully I will get some more game time towards the end of the season.”
Backs coach Whiffin praised promising youngster Palframan highlighting the ‘ambition and desire’ London Irish demonstrated throughout Sunday’s contest.
“We were really happy with the result. I felt that we played with plenty of ambition and desire. They were the buzzwords we had in the week leading up to it.
“It was great to see Richard making his first start; the scrum really got us back into the game with a couple of early penalties.
“I am really pleased for him; he has worked very hard over the past few months to get himself an opportunity.
“He has been showing it on the training field for a while. Fair play to Glenn, who was strong enough to put him in to give him his first shot. He repaid him.
“We got a lucky try before half-time, but in the second half we showed our attacking ambition and intent. We really went after Sale and we scored some good points,” was Whiffin’s verdict.
