So the first Sunday arrives with a home match against Genova Rugby, I was happy to be starting at scrum-half, which is my favored position. Although I felt under pressure to show everyone, especially the team, that I was up to the standard.

I was soon to realise that before the match, things were done very different in Italy. After a short warm-up we went back into the changing room where each player was presented their shirt by the coach to the applause of the other players.

This was a bit of a shock to me as I am used to scrambling through a bag to find the right shirt, or later with Malvern having it hung ready in your place in the changing room.

The referee (who are to become my worst enemies here I feel!) came in to talk to the players before the game, where he checks the players studs as in the UK. However, he is joined by the captain and a folder, filled with each players identification (in my case my passport) and goes through calling each players name. When your name is called you have to step up show your face, boots and number, and also state your first name and position.

This was strange to me as the referee normally just talks to players in important positions to clarify rules, such as the scrum-half and front-row.

After this tradition we finished our warm-up and got ready for the game at hand. Once prepared, the two teams run out in two lines passing a ball between them until we reach the middle where we line up and each team recites a team saying, I am still not sure what ours means!

This is something very different from the huddle that happens before matches in Britain, where there is no contact made with the opposition prior to the match.

So the match starts and I fear that I may struggle with the heat, which felt like playing the first pre-season friendly of the year.

My nerves were soon set aside when we started and was given an extra boost of adrenaline as the crowd got involved. The supporters here really are amazing, shouting support the whole game and chanting your name, and definitely spur me on to do my best.

Unfortunately, after giving the opposition a 20 point head start, we lose the match but come away with one bonus point for scoring four tries and just miss out on another as we lose by eight points (seven points would have given us the second bonus point). However, I was very happy with my debut coming away with two tries and three out of four conversions, as well as a sense that I had been accepted by the boys and the fans.

Now came the post match rituals, another team chant in front of the fans to thank them for the support, before I was cornered by the players and stripped nude! Each debutant must do a naked lap of the pitch after the game, I was just glad it was warm and that there was another debutant that day.

We had a quick shower, chatted to the supporters and local newspaper, before heading back to the club house which is situated nearer the centre of Biella away from the pitch.

At the clubhouse both teams are fed, always pasta and cheese, before the captains are presented with a token from the other team. The Biella Rugby token is a roll of local cheese called Toma, which is very good, and another roll is shared out between the players there and then.

Once the opposition have left, it's down to something that I think every rugby team in the world has in common....drinking!

With the usual left-hand drinking rule, beers are given to those who did something stupid in the game as punishment and man of the match. Also if the dress code is not adhered to a beer is given for each item of clothing that the player doesn’t have. The dress code is always the same, with one item added extra each week, for this match it was a pair of braces.

This week I had to down two of the most horrible beers around due to it being my debut and for not wearing a black belt, it is hard to wear the right things when you don’t understand what is being said.

The worst drink, usually the biggest, is given to the person who does the most stupid thing and they also must provide the beers after training on Friday.

After the fun in the clubhouse, it's into town to Cotton Club, a cocktail bar in Biella, which provides free food, including salami, pasta and loads of pizza. Most of the players head home from there, however there is occasionally a few who stay out until late into the morning.

The start of my second week in Biella is spent recovering from the match the day before which I was pretty sore from, the physicality of Italians not being too different from that back home.

With a few others I go for a light gym session, which strangely takes place in the clubhouse, which is one long room, with gym equipment on one side. I think the most striking thing about the clubhouse however is the walls, full of signed shirts and photos as well as a massive painting of a bear tearing up a rugby pitch, Biella Rugby’s nickname being “gli orsi” (the bears).

It is not the most amazing gym you have ever seen, but it has everything a rugby player is looking for; weights machines, free weights, fitness balls, etc.

In Britain the majority of clubs have their pitch and clubhouse as part of one big complex, which I think is better as it helps the fans to get more involved and will provide more revenue from bar sales at the club.

However, having a gym in the clubhouse is a good idea, and something I have not seen much of at the level I was playing at back in the UK. It allows players to easily access the gym and can also help the club to regulate what they are doing.

Our first training session of the week was greeted with the heavens opening, and the rain wasn’t to stop for some time. The remainder of the week was spent training, as well as helping two of the U15s with their kicking and a few of the U19s and one of the women’s team with their English. All the people here really are very keen to improve their English, I think they feel it is very important because so many people in the world speak it. So most of the people here talk to me in English in a bid to improve and ask me to correct any mistakes they make.

On Friday, Patrick and I headed up into the mountains to the a small village called Piedicavallo, which is only about a 30 minute drive from Biella, but already there was snow there. This small village is surrounded by snow capped mountains, although the weather made it difficult to see most of them, and is a really beautiful place. It has old cobbled streets and seemed to have that slow, Italian way of life.

After that slow pace, it was straight back to training and our Friday night social, which turned into another heavy night.

This meant Saturday was a very easy day, dragging myself out of bed to watch New Zealand vs Australia being the hardest thing I had/was prepared to do. I was keen to support the Kiwis with my New Zealand coach rather than the Aussies with my housemate and I was pleased to see that the All Blacks came out on top.

My second match was again at home against Sondrio Sport Rugby, a team just above us in the table so we were hoping to come away with a win from this match.

We start badly though and after 25 minutes are down 0-10 as Sondrio score a converted try and a penalty as once again it takes us some time to get into the game. By half time we have brought the score back to 6-10, but we lose our scrum-half to injury as he is stretchered off the pitch.

We start the second half much stronger than we did the first and we take the lead 12-10 with two more penalties. Then our discipline lets us down and a string of penalties against lead to them kicking and re-taking the lead 12-13, before pegging us back and scoring a try to put us out the game.

The end score 12-18 to Sondrio, however we come away with another bonus point so at least we get something out of it. I think that the bonus points are a good idea, as they reward teams for exciting rugby and they give teams that come close to winning something for their efforts.

I think it would improve rugby in England if they did this in all the leagues to try and promote a more exciting form of rugby.

Luckily this week I only had one beer to drink and this was due to being man of the match, which I was obviously happy with. Scoring four out of five kicks and all the points meant a good game and won me a ticket to see Italy vs Argentina at the Stadio Olmipico on the 15th of November. Then it was back to the Cotton Club, our Sunday night hang out, for a few more drinks and then home.