Agustin Creevy is as bullish with his predictions for London Irish's title chances as he is when taking the field, claiming: “We can be champions.”
The veteran Argentina hooker is similarly upbeat about his chances of ending his illustrious playing career with a remarkable fourth World Cup in the bag.
Creevy, 37, has spent some of the summer adding to his status as the Pumas most capped player. He aims to return to add more in the Rugby Championship after starting the new Premiership campaign against Worcester on Saturday.
While playing his part for his country in France in a year's time is on his mind, he wants to head over their with some silverware in the bag for Irish.
“Each season we start we believe we can be champions,” he said. “I am not scared of talking about that because we believe in that. If we do all the good things better we can be champions. There is a lot to happen and to get right but we can make it. We finished eighth last time but want to be much higher.
“We need to be the best version of us and to do that we need a winning mentality. We have really good players and young guys who are growing up.
Players like Henry Arundell, Ollie Hassell-Collins and Tom Pearson will all be better. This can be a huge season for all of us.”
Asked if, with all his club and international experience, he felt like the father of the team, he replies: “More like big brother really! I am lucky to play such a sport for a living. I probably have two more years playing this game. When you start to be old you see your whole life passing in front of you! So I want to have a strong season at Irish and then, hopefully, play in one more World Cup. To finish my career having played in four World Cups would be special.”
Creevy hopes his old club Worcester manage to resolve their financial problems to continue life in the Premiership but the sympathy will stop when the two sides face each other in Brentford in the season opener.
The forward, who was at Sixways between 2013-15, says: “I wanted to come back and play the opening game against Worcester for Irish, and then return to play for Argentina against the Springboks. I love the people at Worcester. They deserve to be in the competition.”
