Hi, it’s Luke here.

And I hope you’re all still enjoying the 2013 season as much as we, the players, are.

On and off the field we’re having a great time, and I think I can say that on behalf of everyone – including Ukuma Ta’ai, our latest Helmet ‘victim’!

During the course of this season, Ukuma has been close to collecting this coveted club award, but no-one dared put his name forward.

He’s obviously a very big human being and, when he first arrived, nobody knew how he’d react when it came to the mickey-taking stakes. If he didn’t take things too kindly, I think it’s fair to say one or two may have regretted it!

But now he’s 100% settled in and we’ve got to know him really well, we knew we could pluck up the courage and make him pay, which he’s gladly accepted.

In fact, he’s taken his punishment with particularly relish, choosing to wear the bright pick Helmet award scrum cap when we’re training outside, even though it’s not compulsory to do so. It’s generally for indoor use.

And I think this is one of the clearest signs of how happy and comfortable he is in his new environment.

It must be a massive wrench for players when they move from the other side of the world to join a new club, particularly when they have a young family in tow and need to sort out all the usual domestic arrangements as well as everything else.

As a result, it does take a new overseas signing a bit of time to find their feet and start to produce their best form.

In the case of Ukuma, that’s taken a little longer because he missed pre-season training as a result of red-tape delays, but now he’s showing everyone just what a top asset he is to our squad and he’s clearly feeling very happy about life.

But, as I’ve said, that does mean he could potentially suffer on the Helmet front, which he now has for the first time, although it was only due to the misfortune of Craig Kopczak.

Koppy had been a front-runner for the award after he went for a scan on a troublesome foot injury, and the results came back saying there was hardly anything wrong!

Deep down, we know he is genuinely in a bit of pain and there’s something not quite right, but we’re not going to admit that to a big, tough prop forward, are we?

Instead, we’ve been making the most of it, saying he’s a soft teddy bear and a hypochondriac, and he should be the ‘Helmet’ as a punishment.

But to get out of it, he went and suffered a bicep injury in last week’s win over Catalan and is now exempt, therefore handing the baton straight to Ukuma for a top effort on a night out in Huddersfield to celebrate Anthony Mullally’s birthday.

For starters, the big fella decided he’d drive. He didn’t realise that in England you don’t need to pay at a parking meter after 6pm, so he started off wasting half an hour trying to find a free spot and failed miserably.

He then put in about £10 to pay for the meter, even though it clearly said on the machine it’s free after 6pm.

That clearly wasn’t a good start, but he backed that up by climbing out of the car in a basketball vest and shorts, despite the fact it was bitterly cold evening for this time of the year.

But the icing on the cake was the fact the vest had his name on the back of the shirt, which is something reserved for 10-year-olds or younger when you’re going on a trip around the town.

Sorry, Ukuma, but that just wasn’t a cool look at all. Your fate had been sealed.