POTU Leavasa powered his way to a hat-trick as Southend Saxons secured a third successive victory on Saturday, beating Guernsey 34-12 at Warners Bridge.

The 20-year-old - who is six foot five inches tall and weighs 120 kilograms - touched down three times to help Saxons move up to sixth in the standings.

And the Samoan, who joined the club in the summer, is relishing lining up in his favoured number eight position.

“I’m very happy to be playing number eight as it’s where I feel most comfortable and I’m getting much more confident since playing there,” said Leavasa.

“I had previously been playing at lock which wasn’t a problem but I hadn’t really played there as much in the past so it wasn’t a natural thing for me to do.

“But Saturday was my third game at number eight and I feel good again now.

“I’m enjoying getting my hands on the ball a bit more and Saturday was really pleasing.

“I feel as though we’re really starting to play as a team now and to make it three wins in a row was really good.”

Leavasa’s tries helped to make that happen.

And he is already enjoying his first season in English rugby.

“I was in Australia and I wasn’t sure what was going to happen and if I was going to stay so I looked around and decided to move to England,” said Leavasa.

“I spoke to a friend of mine in Leeds who knew Chris Green (former director of rugby at Southend) and that’s how the move all came around really.

“But this is the start of a long-term plan for me.

“I want to move higher up the leagues and make a career for myself over here but I want to do well for Southend and help them to get out of this league too.

“I’m enjoying being here and the boys are all really nice but it’s hard being away from my family and my little boy.

“However, I’m making a living and a career for myself and I’ll do all I can to be successful over here.”

Leavasa scored three of Southend’s tries at the weekend while the impressive Chris Shields also touched down along with current director of rugby Danny Cleare.

And Leavasa is now keen to build on the victory when Southend head to ninth placed Shelford on Saturday.”

“We’re three from three and want to go and make it four from four now,” said Leavasa.

“We’re playing well and want to continue moving up the table to finish as high as we can.

“We’re not going to look too far ahead but we definitely want to be in the top three or four this season and not be down the bottom.”

Southend: Meads, Filson, Murphy, Cleare, Wiltshire, Vaughan, Gould, Strachan, Bloomberg, Bailey, Fombo, Court-Rhind, Morrison, Shields, Leavasa. Replacements: O’Brien, Day-White & Smith