INSTEAD of running out in front of a packed crowd at Brickfields today, Mike Lewis will be stood pitchside at Tavistock's Sandy Park as the Western Counties West League side entertain Kingsbridge.

Highly-rated lock Lewis had to quit Plymouth Albion and professional rugby at the age of just 24 this summer due to a serious knee injury.

He probably would give anything to be out at Brickfields this afternoon against Worcester trying to tackle his former team-mate and school colleague Tom Arscott.

But instead he will be embarking on a new career — as a coach.

Since his unfortunate retirement, Plymouth-born Lewis has been offered the chance to become forwards coach at Tavistock. Club officials at Sandy Park have been delighted with how the UCP Marjon graduate has taken to the new role.

And Lewis himself admits it has helped him come to terms with the news that he will never be able to play again.

"I am really enjoying it," he said. "It is lovely being back involved in the sport.

"I am not very good at sitting back and doing little.

"I am just looking to push myself as much as I can into coaching.

"I want to see if I am any good at it. Hopefully, I will be.

"At the moment I am just testing the waters, but I am enjoying it."

Lewis, who studied sport at Marjon, said all the community work he did at Albion had stood him in good stead to move into coaching.

"That has helped 100 per cent," said Lewis.

"We would go into so many schools and do lots of coaching work and that taught me all the basics, like where to stand and so on.

"All that coaching I did with Albion was really good experience and has definitely helped."

Lewis admitted it was not quite as hard as he thought it would be last week when Albion kicked off their league season and he was not involved.

Lewis, who had been at Albion since he was a teenager, said: "I don't think I missed it as much as when I knew they were going back for pre-season. I really missed it then.

"I was with Tavistock last week as they played Saltash and I just tried to concentrate on that, although I did get a couple of texts with the score from Bedford."

Lewis has been impressed with the set-up and players at Tavistock.

"We have got a few good players, although we are always looking for more," he said.

"But pre-season has gone really well. We have had really good numbers turning up and hopefully we can do well."

Tavistock train on Tuesday and Thursday evenings between 7pm-9pm and the club always welcomes new players.

Lewis admits he has spoken to Albion boss Graham Dawe to see if he has any Warriors who the club may be interested in lending them.

However, he faces competition from Danny Thomas, now coach at Barnstaple, and James Owen, who helps out Ivybridge, for some of Albion's up-and-coming talent.