IRISHMAN Ruairi Cushion is keen to build on his first Plymouth Albion start.

The scrum-half, a summer arrival from All-Ireland club Old Belvedere, was handed his chance in Saturday's Devon derby.

Although he could not quite guide Albion to an unexpected victory, he did play his part in helping the Brickfields club push the Chiefs all the way before agonisingly losing 30-24.

"It was my first start and I was delighted to be handed the opportunity," said Cushion, who had come on as a replacement in the games against Bedford and Rotherham.

"It is a team game and I am always looking for overall results, but on a personal level, I am always happy to get game-time.

"I was a little bit rusty with a few things on Saturday, but hopefully, I can build on that and continue for the rest of the season.

"It was a fast, physical game, but they all are in this division.

"I was expecting a tough game and I got it, but I really enjoyed it.

"I particularly enjoyed the support – there was some great support from our guys – and, hopefully, we gave them something to cheer about.

"We should have won the game."

Cushion added: "There was a lot of disappointment from the defeat.

"We played quite well – it was a huge step-up in performance from the Bedford match.

"We were hurting from that match against Bedford. We felt we let the supporters down and let ourselves down, so we wanted to go out and show what we could do."

Cushion was encouraged by Saturday's performance at Sandy Park, where Albion were winning with just seven minutes of normal time to go.

"We are definitely top four material, in my opinion, and we showed parts of that against Exeter.

"But I still feel there is more that we can show.

"We were unlucky not to win the game. The Exeter boys will probably count themselves lucky to have won the game."

Albion did pick up a bonus point on Saturday for finishing within seven points of Exeter.

Cushion said: "As a team, you are going to take some consolation from a bonus point, but at the same time, we felt we deserved to win the game. So there's more disappointment than satisfaction."

Cushion admits it is important Albion, who only have one win to their name so far this season, build on their display against the Chiefs.

"I think Saturday's performance has raised the bar for the team," said Cushion.

"Our defence was so much better. We really went at them with our defence and put in some smashing tackles.

"Sean-Michael Stephen and Keni Fisilau were putting in huge hits all over the park and that really brought us on.

"When we got our first try that brought a bit of confidence back into us and we started playing a bit more rugby.

"It was good to see from that regard that we can actually play.

"We have lost three matches out of four, but we can definitely turn it around.

"We have another big derby this Saturday against the Cornish Pirates, but it us at home in front of our own supporters and they can really be our 16th man.

"I am sure they will really help us along and hopefully, we will get the pushover against the Pirates and kick on from there.

"We really owe our supporters one after the Bedford defeat because we really let them down and ourselves.

"We were a hurting squad and we still are because we lost again.

"So, we are going to come out all guns blazing against the Pirates."