THE game against Sale was probably the story of our season.

In the last couple of weeks we had gone quite well in tough games against Leicester and Northampton, but it is our ability to maintain consistency in performance week after week that is a problem.

The particularly frustrating thing about that is the Sale game was massively important for us and we were tentative in the first 10 to 15 minutes.

In the build-up to the game, we spoke about having good discipline and starting the game well and we did neither.

Maybe we haven’t got the strongest of squads, so the ability for us to front up each week is clearly not something we do well.

We have to look forward to our match at Quins on Saturday (3pm) now and, although the Sale result was disappointing, we did come back into the game quite well.

Quins are probably not at the top of their game at the moment, so we have to see it as an opportunity and we do tend to bounce back after a poor performance. We’ll be looking for a response from the group this weekend.

Time is running out in the season and every game is crucial. It will be a tough test and the home game with Quins was probably one of our worst performances this season, so we understand where the challenge is in terms of them playing with tempo and looking to put width on the game.

Hopefully, if selected, I’ll be back this weekend. My one-week ban for the red card I got at Northampton was a little bit bitter-sweet for me as I genuinely felt I could prove that it wasn’t a closed-fist punch.

I you look at the slow-motion replay, the guy was holding me and I was swinging to get his arm off me. Watching it back, it does look quite bad, but I knew as soon as I had done it that it wasn’t a punch.

I hoped the panel would see my side of it, which I feel they did to an extent and that was why I only got one week, but that meant I missed a massive game.

It could have been worse though, they could have given me two, three or four weeks, but at least I am able to play this weekend.

Ryan Lamb has joined us recently and I’ve been really impressed with him as a person and a player. I wasn’t sure what to expect when he first turned up because you hear all sorts of things on the rugby circuit, but he has been a breath of fresh air.

He is a really nice lad, always smiling and chirpy, and he is a great rugby player as well – you can see that in training immediately. You can see his distribution and passing is just another level and he has been a great addition.

I am always confident we can stay up – you have to be; if not we might as well all hold our hands up and go home.

We still have home games against Exeter, wasps and Gloucester – all games I believe we can win – and we have Newcastle away, which is obviously a must-win.

There are 16 points up for grabs there and Newcastle have a tough run-in, so it still can be done – that’s not wishful thinking – but we have to start showing signs that we look like winning games.

At the moment, we don’t. We did against Leicester, but then dropped off again in the last two matches.