LAST Friday was a frustrating evening all round at Rodney Parade.

Firstly, even though we beat Zebre the performance just wasn’t there. We won 13-0 but wasted a host of opportunities.

And on a personal front it was so disappointing to be forced off by injury. It’s nothing serious and strangely enough I could benefit from there being a break in the Guinness Pro12.

We don’t play again until travelling to Leinster on Saturday, October 3 and I hope to be in contention for a place in the squad for Dublin. If not then the trip to Glasgow a fortnight later.

It’s odd to have this break in the schedule while the World Cup takes place but we will use the opportunity to have a look at some of the finer details that have let us down against Connacht and Zebre.

There has been a massive amount of frustration at the way we played last weekend but it’s gone now and we just have to work towards two tough away games.

We won in Dublin for the first time last season and beat Glasgow in Scotland the previous year and if we improve on the small details that went wrong against Zebre then we could have another good scalp on the road.

The World Cup starts this evening when England take on Fiji in the first game in the group of death.

It will be tough for Wales, especially after losing Leigh Halfpenny and Rhys Webb in addition to Jonathan Davies, and it will take a team effort to make it through. One thing is for sure, they will certainly be conditioned.

It will be great to watch how the top teams in the world go about their business because as a young coach I take inspiration from everywhere.

I’ve got no ego in that sense, I know that I am on the bottom rung of the ladder and I am happy to learn the ropes and see how others do things.

With Newport we suffered a disappointing defeat at Ebbw Vale last week but tomorrow presents a great opportunity.

We have spoken about making Rodney Parade a tough place to come and there is no better way to show that than against a Pontypridd side who have started the season strongly and who have made a habit of finishing on top of the Premiership.

The Pro12 may be on a break but it’s all go for Life Education, the programme I have been involved in with my good friend Richard Davenport.

Not only do we have a new website – www.life-education.co.uk – but our ‘Newport One’ project is up and running and we will be doing workshops with St Joseph’s, Llanwern, Bassaleg and Newport High School.

We’re affiliated with Newport City Council and are focused on making sure students fulfil their full potential. Our motto is ‘Dare 2 Dream’ and we will endeavour to get the youngsters to do that by developing their life skills.