THERE is a growing confidence in the camp as we travel to Henley this weekend.

However, it is reassuring to know that the level of professionalism within this squad is top notch.

After the 53-3 win over Birmingham & Solihull on Saturday, the conversations in the dressing room were very interesting.

You would expect a very robust set of lads shouting and celebrating such a big win. Not a bit of it. I sat and just listened to the different discussions and players were apologising to each other about mistakes they'd made during the match. A game we won 53-3!

I think it is fair to say we've all got our feet on the ground at Worcester. It's been a solid start but nobody is getting carried away, we know there is a long way to go.

We all feel Saturday's performance was an improvement on the opening league game because I think Birmingham were a better side than Manchester. Defensively we were better and the backs again showed what they can do this season. Craig Chalmers played his first full league game and was very impressive considering it was his only 80-minute match since April. I was also pleased with Tony Yapp's display after coming on for the injured Sateki Tuipulotu.

We want to improve on the Birmingham game though and we know there are many areas from the game on Saturday that will get better if we work on them.

We are very pleased, considering how few games this squad have had together, how quickly things have come together. Credit must go to the players and the coaching staff but we all know there are many things to concentrate on before Saturday's trip to Dry Leas.

It will be a different kind of test for us quite obviously because it is our first away match in National One. We will face criticism from the stands this season because we are Worcester. People will look at us as the glamour boys of the league, there to be brought down to earth. Rather than discourage that, I welcome it because you can use it as motivation. People say the ex-Premiership boys are here for the money, there for one last pay day before we end our rugby careers. If you believe that, you'll believe anything!

I have played rugby all my life and I've never gone on to a field not wanting to win. I don't think any sportsman does that. Of course players come to clubs to be paid now - that is just the professional climate in which we operate. Most of the players of my age have been at clubs where they weren't paid for many years so it is nice now to be able to make a living out of the sport that we love. It doesn't mean though that we don't put 100 per cent on and off the pitch for the club. I will do everything humanly possible to get the club into the Premiership because that is where I want to play my rugby. Being paid is nice but it does not cloud your focus. In many ways it sharpens it because it's what you think about day in, day out. If people want to target us because we are seen as the club with all the money, fair enough. Birmingham & Solihull decided to stand in a huddle just outside the tunnel on Saturday trying to intimidate us. That's good for them if that's what they want to do but that only motivates us. A lot of teams are in for a shock this season if they think they can intimidate us and that goes for Henley at the weekend.

My reputation is at stake every time I go on to that pitch because everyone is desperate to put one over on us. I, and the rest of the team, are not going to let that happen.

Worcester captain Kingsley Jones was talking to Mark Dobson.