WE go into the Christmas break with a good feeling at the club after recording a convincing 51-3 win over London Welsh at the weekend.

I was delighted with the way the side reacted to the defeat at Moseley because it is always a good test of a team to see how they respond to adversity.

The confidence took a bit of a knock after the first National One defeat and the players were put through some very hard training sessions leading up to the game so it was pleasing to see them stand up and be counted.

The three players I brought in all performed well and made a telling contribution to the victory. I thought Spencer Bromley, Ian Calder and Nick Broughton had excellent games.

Spencer is a very talented player and he can add that bit extra to us in attack. He needs to believe in himself a little more at times because I've seen the things he can do - he needs to show everyone else what he is capable of. Nick kept the continuity of the game going. He has got good skills and is probably the most skilful of the forward pack. Ian scared the living daylights out of the visitors with his pace and really kept their defence on their toes all afternoon. However, while the three made a big difference, credit should also go to the forwards who really got into the visitors and made it very difficult for them.

I was pleased at the toughness which was shown during the game because that was an area which was definitely lacking at Bournbrook. London came to Sixways on the back of tough recent games against us and Leeds Tykes and after another 80 minutes against my side, I think they were glad to see the back of us.

The players had their Christmas party last night and now go off for a well-earned festive break until Tuesday.

They are all professional enough to know not to overdo it in the festive period. They'll all come back on Tuesday and have a fairly intense fitness test.

However, if I'm not happy with them - I'll run the Christmas pudding out of them in other ways!

We all know that our next test at Henley on December 30 will be a tough one because they have been very strong at home this season. We have two training sessions to get back on track and I will say to them that the last two weeks have been a reflection on the good and the bad of our rugby and they have to understand what input they had to put in to make things better. They have to take responsibility for themselves and the club. However, they deserve a break because I think, on the whole, they have done well so far.

We go into the post-Christmas period as leaders of this competition with the best defensive record. That has to be foundation for us from now on because on Saturday we never looked like giving anything away and then the attacking side of things looked after itself. What we have to believe is that we are the best side in the competition because we are - we showed that when Leeds came to Sixways.

I will be looking to change around the training for the rest of the season because we will be coming into a period where the pitches are heavy and the weather not conducive to good rugby. I think the key now to what we do is the quality of match preparation rather than quantity. The games will be hard enough without having really tough training sessions leading up to the matches.

In the meantime, I wish all Worcester supporters a very merry Christmas. I won't be getting a present this year because I've asked Santa to wait until April for it. Hopefully then we can all enjoy promotion together!