Welcome to England and Bath Rugby wing Matt Banahan's weekly tour column from England's tour Down Under, from RFU.com.

The Secret Diary of Matt Banahan, height 6' 6 and ¾
Monday June 7 - King of the Banter

Well, we've been gone almost a week now and I can certainly say that the training - and bonding - is going well, here in Perth.

It took the boys a good few days to get over the jetlag, some more so than others, but it's one of those things, you've got to make sure they whole squad's ready before you start the high intensity training.

On Thursday all the boys said they were good, so we went flat out all into it then and Friday. We did a bit more Saturday and Sunday, as we get ready for Tuesday. The team was announced this morning and I'm really looking forward to the chance to get out there.

We've been well looked after though and we've certainly eaten well, there have been no complaints about the Aussie food! Something else Australia is known for is its beer and although we haven't tested that obviously, we did take a brewery tour which was great. Some of the guys took a jet boat ride around Fremantle, we spotted a school of dolphins and followed them for about 15 minutes - it was an amazing experience.

Although we're a big group, it doesn't feel like it, we really feel like one good family. On tour, banter is always a good sign and there's been plenty of that flying about. We've got a darts board, Nintendo Wii and table tennis table in our team room, Delon Armitage struggled losing 7-0 at table tennis in one game before refusing to take his punishment! But it's all part of the deal. There are always people you have to look out for, like Hask (James Haskell). It doesn't matter where you're going or what you're doing, he'll always give it, he's got to be king of the banter! Then there's Chris Ashton, he's just on fire all the time. He's good on the table tennis, he'll try and mess you up and make you make a mistake.

Although it's fun, the banter also gives a great energy. And with midweek and Saturday games, there's some separation at training to get the teams prepared but the banter brings the whole squad back together. Laughter is one of the most important things in life and when everyone's enjoying it, banter brings us all together.

And come Tuesday, it'll be really important that we work as a team. They may be called the Barbarians but they're effectively an Australia A team. This is an England team, we're down as England not anything else, and this is the first game of the England tour. We need to set the bar when we go out and let the guys who play in the Test match on Saturday know that someone is pushing them for their place, because of what we've done on Tuesday.

Cheers,
Matt

Don't forget to look out for Matt's next column, out next Monday (June 14).