JOSH Grimes admits he will be over the moon if given the chance to make his Rams debut against Chinnor later this month, writes Richard Ashton.
The full-back, who joined the club last summer, was previously with Wasps and moved to Reading to study a Masters in Real Estate having completed his studies at Nottingham University.
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic means it is now 10 months without a game since Grimes arrived at Old Bath Road, but he remained upbeat, saying: “I’ve absolutely loved it. The facilities are incredible, the lads are really, really nice and the coaches are very welcoming. It’s all you can really ask for.
“I haven’t been able to play a game despite having come down for almost a year now to train and go in the gym, but I feel pretty settled.”
With the Senior Squad having returned to action following three months of lockdown at the end of March, Grimes gave an insight into what has been going on by adding: “Training’s starting to pick up a bit now – we started off nice and easy and were working on skills which I think everyone wanted – but now we’re upping it and I felt it a little bit on Wednesday.
“I’m sure next week will be even harder.”
With the two Chinnor friendlies looming on the horizon, Grimes continued: “I’d love to get the opportunity and it would be brilliant. I don’t know how many minutes I might get, but I’d take anything because it’s been a while.
“I’d imagine I’d be a bit nervous, but also really excited.
“I like to run the ball back as opposed to kicking and I like to get the ball in hand, throw it around a bit and excite.”
And with the fixtures due to be played under the adapted rules meaning no scrums or line-outs, he concluded: “It might affect me because I could be seeing a few up-and-unders off a free-kick or something.
“It’s going to be a bit different, but thankfully it shouldn’t last for too long – hopefully just those two games – and it would be just good to get out there.”
Meanwhile, coach Harry Stapleton added: “Training’s been really good and the guys are looking great.
“There’s been some really good stuff on show which is really pleasing, and the standard has been so high – and the players set those standards themselves. It’s been really, really impressive.
“They’re putting in a lot of hard work and hopefully we’ll get to see that pay off in the games against Chinnor.”
