After sitting out for five games with an ankle injury, Robert Archibald made his debut for Great Britain in an 88-59 win over Ireland.

The 27-year-old scored six points in the all-too-easy victory in Crawley.

"It felt good," said the softly-spoken Scotsman.

"It certainly beats watching. I've been getting a little stir crazy but Chris (Finch, Great
Britain coach) has been very fair with me - he's not put any pressure on me.

"It's been difficult because we've been travelling so much and playing so many games, in my position it's been tough because with no practise time it doesn't give me much opportunity to get some work in."

But it has to be said that Archibald is certainly no stranger to injury - it dogged him during his brief NBA career with Toronto, Orlando, Memphis and Phoenix.

"I've had my fair share of it," he said.

"It's frustrating but for the most part it's out of your control so you just have to try to take care of yourself as best as you can and spend your time in rehab. I try to make the
best of it."

The demands of the season in Spain effectively put paid to any plans he had to try to get back into the NBA.

"I wanted to try to do summer league this summer but by the end of the season I was pretty worn down," he said.

"We didn't get finished until June 15 and summer league starts at the beginning of July so going into training for that and then coming here (on tour with Great Britain) would have been just too much.

"So I ended up taking a couple of weeks rest after the season, working out in Chicago and then coming here."

Archibald enjoyed his two seasons with Joventut Badalona but will be in a much different part of Europe with Azovmash Mariupol of Ukraine.

However, this is not as big a step down as you might expect, protests Archibald.

"The team will still be playing in the ULEB Cup," he points out.

"The Ukrainian league is not as high a level as the Spanish league but it's a different position for me within the team - more of a central role in the team and be more featured offensively and defensively. So I think it'll be good for me."