Hopkinson discusses his return from injury and previews Cornish Pirates (A)
20th December 2024
Adam Hopkinson made his return from injury at Saturday’s fixture against Caldy. The second row had been out since pre season with a broken hand.
Hopkinson said: “It wasn’t a struggle but it was a surprise more than anything. I was out for pretty much four months and at the start I was officially named on the bench. But then I went to starting and was only meant to play 40, so I had to pretty much dig in as much as possible.”
It was certainly a test but once I got into it, it was just flowing and came like second nature again. So, it was great to be back out, especially at home.”
Despite his injury, Hopkinson has been in and around the club during his rehab. “It was hard to be honest, I was always in with the squad, but I was never really training with them. I was always just kind of sectioned off doing rehab. So, it was nice to always get that encouragement from the lads and also see how hard there’re working. It was good to be able to give that encouragement back when the weekends came around.”
Hopkinson’s first game back post injury was a successful 22-0 home win. He reflected on the game: “I think it was a good one, like you said, a wins a win. To be able to nill any team in this league, you’ve got to have put in a good effort for that.”
“We came out on that first half and we nailed our roles, I think in the second half we just were defending, we didn’t really see the ball, it’s hard to score when you don’t see the ball. But, to keep them out for the full eighty, fair play to us.”
The Knights are travelling to Cornwall this weekend for round nine. He said: “I don’t think we’ve really focused on pirates that much. We’ve just kind of been backing our own drills, making sure we get our own detail right. You know, when we’re on the ball, we can we can beat anyone in this league. So, it’s been about putting ourselves in the best position to be able to go and do that, really.”
The team are anticipating tricky conditions down by the coast, “we’ve been looking at the weather because it doesn’t look great down there. We’ve had to adjust some things, but we need to be clinical more than anything.”
Hopkinson is one of the Knights Academy graduates in the first team squad. He discussed how coming through the academy helped prepare him for championship challenges like Cornwall away.
“It was massive for me, I kind of got my break really randomly, I wasn’t;t even with the first team. So, the academy being so close to the first team, it was good.”
“But one of the biggest things what helped me was the fact that Tyson also played in my first match, so to have that familiar face, it was it was nice to be able to look round and have that familiar head.”
The Knights return to Castle Park after Christmas to face Hartpury in round ten (Sunday 29th December). You can secure tickets to this fixture here
