AS I write this piece, the frustration from Friday night’s 14-12 defeat to Wasps is still quite raw.

For the second time at home this season, we gave away a win in the dying moments.

At this stage, it is the difference between being 11th, as we are, and seventh.

The season is still young and we must learn from this quickly.

Although frustration will not allow me to move on entirely just yet, we have analysed our performance on Friday night and, as a squad, are now focused on the journey up to Newcastle.

I will, however, spend a bit of time to go through some of the Premiership game with Wasps.

Our forward pack worked extremely hard but with little reward. Early on, we struggled in the line-out to win clean ball, largely because Wasps defended so well.

We needed to adapt and, as the game progressed, things improved. In a game where there was so much kicking, adapting was important. We’d seen Wasps in previous weeks drive almost every line-out with great force.

Our pack worked really well together in dismantling their drive legally and effectively.

For me, this was a big improvement but scrum time was interesting.

I would not say I understand exactly what goes on in there and am grateful I’m never actually going to find out first-hand, but the referee was favouring the powerful Wasps scrum early on. Again, we adapted well and Tevita Taumoepeau and Matt Mullan answered the referee’s doubts and swung his opinion.

We actually allowed Wasps to set the tone in the game up-front but always answered the call to regain parity.

At home, we need to be the ones to put pressure on the opposition from the off.

It is key to disrupt line-out ball and show the officials our dominance at scrum time, much like Wasps did.

Going back to Sale, this is exactly what we achieved and we won the game.

Our defence for the vast majority of the Wasps match was again superb — we looked comfortable and in control.

Wasps admitted after the game there seemed no way through us and they were impressed with our organisation and commitment. It took a bit of magic to eventually break us down.

These are fine lines we play with and, like against Harlequins, the smallest lapse in concentration or work-rate will be punished.

There are no easy weeks and no let-ups in this competition.

We cannot afford to let any more of these close games slip past us if we want to achieve our goals for the season.

As we begin our climb up the table, the biggest game of our season awaits us at Newcastle on Friday night.

We know what to expect from them and I am sure conditions will be a good test.

Newcastle will never just lie down — they have huge spirit and a never-say-die attitude. It will be up to us to make them lie down.

Falcons will rely heavily on their star man, Jimmy Gopperth, to pin us in our own half and keep their side of the scoreboard ticking over.

To answer this, it is vital our back-three get support from the rest of the team, working hard to get back and help out.

Another key area will be our discipline. If we give away needless penalties, then Gopperth will punish us.

Friday night needs our most complete performance to date.

We will travel up with confidence and excitement about the challenge ahead.

If all goes to plan, we will return having extended the gap at the bottom and be rightly looking up the table.