Saracens star and West Ham United fan Jackson Wray was delighted to make his London Stadium debut for Monday’s Premier League clash with Manchester United.
The Essex-born Number Eight has been one of the standout performers in English rugby union this season, and has been tipped for international honours.
The reigning Aviva Premiership and European Champions Cup winners are enjoying another strong season, sitting second in the Premiership table and top of their Champions Cup group. With Saracens earning a hard-earned win at Leicester Tigers on New Year’s Day, Wray joined fellow Hammer and backs coach Kevin Sorrell on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
Jackson, what's the story behind you being a Hammer?
“Growing up I loved football and West Ham was my local-ish team in the Premier League, so it started there really. Obviously there have been plenty of highs and plenty of lows along the way, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way and to see us here now is brilliant. We’ve come a long way."
This is your first visit to London Stadium, so what do you think?
“It’s a big place. I’ve heard it’s really impressive and walking in from the outside was definitely a sight, so it’s fantastic to be able to get down and see it in person.
“It’s a really impressive arena and in terms of size it’s definitely up there with the likes of Twickenham and Wembley, where we've played and to have a full one of those is great. It would be nice to play here one day and I’ve no doubt it would be great."
What can this move do for the Club in the future?
“I was at the Play-Off final in 2012 and the support we took to fill half of Wembley was unbelievable and you can see the numbers we have here is up there. Hopefully now we can go from strength to strength. We’ve picked up recently and I am looking forward to seeing us improve and build on last year.
“I think this is what we needed, in terms of the size, where the Club wants to go, the players we want to sign, it’s definitely a massive step in the right direction. To have this as a home in a massive part of London, it could bring in all sorts of new fans, and that's what we need to get to where we want to be."
Who are your favourite players?
"To be honest, I like Winston Reid. He is solid and has been linked with some of the top teams and that's the sort of player he is. To have kept him over the last few years, when he has been unbelievable, he's a massive part of the defence and a really, really good player.
"It's good to see Andy Carroll back. He really causes problems and it will be nice to see him up there, bringing the ball down and doing what he does."
As a fellow sportsman, can you sense the team spirit among the Hammers?
"Yes, you can see the way the manager is with his players and the atmosphere at the training ground, it seems to be a really good place to be and it's nice to see the results coming.
"Injuries play a massive part in any sport and I think we've probably hit the worst this year. Hopefully now we've got those guys back and it will be good to see them out there and it will be interesting to see if they can put some performances together."
How about you guys? How is Saracens' season panning out?
"Not too bad. We started off pretty well and are sitting a point off top spot at the minute and we've won four out of four in Europe, so we're ticking along nicely but we don't want to peak too early.
"Obviously last year was unbelievable to win the double and it would be good to do that again."
Reports suggest you aren't far off the England squad, so is that a goal for you?
"As with any young guy, I want to play for England. I'm 26 and have some development still to go which I'm going to work on and hopefully I can break into that set-up.
"It's a very difficult set-up to break into because they've been incredibly successful. They were unbeaten all year [in 2016], which was a fantastic achievement, but it's what I want to do and I know I need to work hard to get there."