Hello all my name  is Jamie Hagan and I’ll be looking  forward on keeping you posted with the  latest news from the west from Connacht rugby.

This is my first season as a full professional rugby player with Connacht rugby. It seems so long ago now that I was with the Leinster Academy. Last season was brilliant for me, got my first Magners league cap with Leinster against the dragons and was named in the extended Heineken cup squad, which Leinster deservedly won. I wanted more than just a backseat role though.

I had learned a lot at leinster from quality players such as Stan Wright and  CJ van der Linde, but it was time to fly from the nest, and in my case that meant a flight to the west.

I needed to test myself week in week out at the highest level I could. So when Connacht came a knocking I jumped at the opportunity.  First person that rang me to wish me the best was Bernard Jackman he knows the importance of game time especially for a young prop and he said I had made the right move.

So off I went into the west. It meant uprooting myself from the life I’d known and moving to a new city on the opposite coast but I knew that was a sacrifice I’d have to make if I wanted to make it and see my dreams come to fruition, so here I am six months later.

Pre-season was a blur and it usually is, thank god  but with one unforgettable day in the Burren in County Clare. Our fitness coach Greg Muller former SAS drill sergeant brought us on a commando workout which involved a mountain and full keg of water. Let’s just say I won’t be going back to the Burren in hurry.

As August came roiling in I was preparing to really fight for my place in the team but I knew it wasn't going to come easily. The competition is fierce for front row positions here in Connacht.  Robbie Morris was starting and as an English international I knew it was going to be tough but I was on the bench and needed to make an impact in all the games I was involved in.

We lost all our friendlies by the smallest of margins but I gained some serious experience along the way against two of the English Premiership giants, Harlequins and Gloucester.

The Magners league was fast approaching, Robbie had the starting birth, and it goes without saying that he is a top class prop and I have learned a lot since being here under his tutelage.  I was happy with being on the bench for the first match of the season at my new club but I wanted to get on and prove my worth. It was twenty minutes into battle and Robbie went down with an injury! I knew that this was my chance and I grabbed it double fisted. It was amazing experience even though we lost by the slimmest of margins. Despite this it was one hell of debut, I was propping against Welsh International Duncan Jones and playing against the ospreys, something I could have only dreamt of the year before.

The pace in the  Magners league is lightning quick and the physicality is a big step up from club rugby. But by playing week in week out I’m getting used to the fast tempo of the matches and the nerves aren’t so bad before game time now.

The atmosphere at Connacht this season has be brilliant, we’ve a young and capable team that has bonded superbly and these are very exciting times. Especially when you have wins over Montpelier in France and Scarlet’s and Cardiff Blues at home. With great wins like these it just shows we can compete with the best.

As the autumn series was closing in I had some time off from Connacht. As I was just about to go home I got a phone call to join the Ireland team in Dublin to help them Prepare for the Aussie's.  It was the best experience ever training with the squad. I talked to Declan  Kidney and Gert Smal (Forward coach),  they were really sound, they told me  were I had to get too for them,  and that I was going well. It showed me that even though I have a long way to go to play international rugby it’s not a million miles away either. I would like to congratulate Ireland on a great year, winning the grand slam and beating the world champions South Africa. On a provincial note I would like to congratulate my fellow front row team mate Sean Cronin for making his debut in the autumn series against Fiji.  Well done! Hopefully if I keep busting my back at Connacht I will join him and others from the current Connacht squad like John Muldoon, Ian Keatley, Johnny O Connor and Gavin Duffy, in the Irish set up.

With matches like Munster and my old club Leinster to look forward to it doesn't take much to get me motivated!