SADLY we failed to light up the stadium at London Irish on Sunday as impressively as the Sixways staff did last weekend.

The fireworks display at Worcester was magnificent on Guy Fawkes Night. It was just a pity that our performance, almost 48 hours later, was a such damp squib at the Madejski.

We went down 25-15 but the performance, rather than the result, was the major let-down and I must apologise to our supporters who I thought were superb.

Once again they turned up in their thousands and had little to shout about. What I'd like to underline, however, is that John Brain and myself really appreciate that level of support. We didn't send the players back out to applaud them because we were so disappointed ourselves with the display. Sometimes, after such a performance, there is a level of embarrassment.

We never had a platform at Irish and when we did get the ball, we made the wrong decisions and played in silly areas of the field. That's not a great combination but we've addressed those problems this week and we've all moved forward as a unit.

Consistency was always going to be a difficult ingredient to find with a relatively fresh set of players within a new league. If you look through Saturday's 22, then half the squad are new players, only brought in either in the summer or this season. That doesn't lend itself to an easy transition into the Premiership. It's not an excuse, it's fact. At any level of sport, consistency is that X-factor that everybody strives for but it's not easy and it does take time, especially when you have a new group of players.

We've brought in Paul Sampson this weekend to give our squad more depth. The former Wasps winger was available after playing Super League rugby this season for London Broncos. After having a good look at him and speaking to the right people, we've signed him until the end of the season.

Paul suffered a serious knee injury a couple of years ago that kept him out of the game for a year and you always wonder whether you're going to see the same player again. What delighted us about him, however, was that he'd lost none of his pace. That is a key attribute in the Premiership, especially out wide, and there was never any doubt about his finishing prowess -- his record speaks for itself. He scored 29 tries in 68 appearances for Wasps and won three England caps at his peak.

If he can reach those levels again, we'll all be delighted at Sixways. We've named him in the 22 to face Leicester on Saturday and it's somewhat ironic that the Tigers showed an interest in signing him before he chose us.

We'll be the underdogs once again on Saturday but we know that the players want to show the rugby world that they belong at this level. The Tigers clash certainly offers them redemption after their showing at the Madejski.

It's an important time for Worcester. The next few weeks will see a number of sides marginally weakened because of the Autumn internationals and we must take any little advantage that we can. I'm sure people will argue that Leicester, without seven internationals, will be a diluted force. Well, we're not thinking that way and we'll give them the respect they deserve at Sixways.

They're not superhuman, though, and we can beat them. We respect Leicester for what they are and what they've achieved but we're not scared. As far as we're concerned, there are Premiership points to be had and we'll be fighting like Tigers to take them.