SINCE the Sale game at home, which was a low point for us as a forward pack, we have inproved massively in terms of our scrum, driving line-out and defence.
I was speaking to Bath’s Welsh prop Paul James after the game and he said it was as tough a game they have had up front all season.
That match was definitely a step forward for us and our pack is starting to look like a unit that is going in the right direction.
Ofa Fainga’anuku has done really well on the loosehead in the last few weeks and Gus Creevy is obviously a very good player, but he took a knock on his knee against Bath.
The disappointing thing was that in those conditions it was all about game management and game intelligence.
However, we conceded three penalties in the early stages to go 9-0 down and then there was a seven-point swing when we had a try disallowed only for them to go straight down the other end and score themselves.
All of a sudden, we were 16-0 down in a game where Bath weren’t 16 points better than us.
We were never going to see a huge amount from the backs in those conditions, but we looked good in patches and Chris Pennell was impressive at the back once again.
Our performance was a move in the right direction, but there is still a long way to go to where we want to be and winning games on a regular basis.
We are at Cardiff Blues in the LV= Cup on Friday night and it will be good to go back down there and catch up with a few people.
It will be interesting to play on the plastic pitch at Cardiff Arms Park as I have never played on that surface before. It should make for a fast game and the conditions won’t be a problem this week.
I know from playing the Blues over the years that they have some exciting young backs and they will look to put plenty of width on the ball and play at a high tempo.
We then play Leicester Tigers in the cup at Sixways the week after and these two weeks are a good opportunity for us to keep working hard and improving, but we could also use these games as an opportunity for some of our younger players.
If we could get that first win of the season in the next couple of weeks, it would be a step in the right direction and a boost for everyone.
The support we are getting from the fans is outstanding and I really empathise with them turning up each week and not seeing wins or good performances. It is as frustrating for us players and coaches and we all want the same thing.
It is tough times at the moment, but we really appreciate the support and that will make it even sweeter when we do turn things around.
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