TRAINING this week has been quite interesting as we had an Australian motivational group called Leading Teams come in.

These slightly different approaches that have been introduced over the past couple of weeks are something that I have been through with other clubs I have played for.

The session we had with Leading Teams on Tuesday will not be a one-off, they will be with us for 18 months and during that time we hope the work they do will show benefits on the pitch.

What they do is come in and get us to be very open and honest.

The sessions are controlled but when you have openness and honesty that can help you when you play.

On Tuesday they split us up into four groups and part of my group was Darren Morris, Greg Rawlinson, Gavin Quinnell, Matt Mullan and Jonny Arr.

The exercise was a team building one which was to show the mechanics of working within a squad.

This group worked with the Auckland Blues last year when Sam Tuitupou and Greg were there and Mike Ruddock has probably asked them about what they are like and they have given him some good reports.

Last week we had Wayne Barnes come in and explain decisions from a referee's perspective, but these types of approaches to training are part and parcel of the game.

The work we will do with Leading Teams is about changing our culture and that can only be achieved over a period.

Tomorrow we head to Sale and we know that we are going to get a tough game. They have all their internationals back from the Six Nations.

But we have seen this year that the strength of squads when players are away on international duty is only marginally different with the non-domestic internationals. The gap has become far, far smaller.

One thing we must try and do is keep All Black centre Luke McAllister quiet and the way to do that is through team-work, good discipline and organised defence.

We have been really pleased with our defence over the past few weeks because we have on average conceded less than a try a game.

Teams who go on to win the league average a try-and-a-half a match so in that respect we are up there with the best of them. But there is also a pressure on us to get that second win and all our remaining games are massive.

We have been here before and last year we were a long way adrift, so we do have that experience of dealing with these situations.

However, being in this situation again adds to the pressures of last year and it does become cumulative.

Last week against London Irish was frustrating because, with the effort that was put in, we felt we deserved more than we got.

But it was a big improvement on how we played at Saracens and the attitude and the effort we put in the last game was massive.