All my photographs depicting the on-field action would have originally been presented in colour for the press reports.

After all, their main purpose was to provide a visual report of an encounter between two rival rugby clubs, therefore the viewer needs to see the colours of the shirts and so be able to differentiate between the two sides.

But my reason for then removing the colour from my images was driven by a desire to try and concentrate the eye on the rugby players themselves.

Rather than be distracted by the bright colours of their strip and the sponsor’s logos, I wanted the main focus of the photograph to be the faces of the players, and to try and get across the physical effort, the pain, the emotions that they would be experiencing during a rugby match.

Hence my choice of high contrast and gritty black and white, as I felt, to my eyes at least, that this would best convey that on-pitch atmosphere that I wanted my images to portray.