THE performance against Leicester Tigers has given the team plenty of confidence for the rest of the season.

It was the best we have played all season and if we can do that against Leicester, there's no reason why we can't do it every week.

Although I was disappointed with the result, and that we couldn't get the win, the level of performance was more like we expect from Worcester Warriors.

On the back of the Exeter defeat, which was bitterly disappointing in terms of the manner of the performance, all we spoke about was playing with some pride in the jersey and with the emotion people expect.

We just wanted to do ourselves justice as players and I think there's no doubt we managed to do that last Friday.

From minute one until the end of the game we played with character and were very physical.

Although we conceded the early intercept try, we came back and did everything but win the game, with Chris Pennell kicking 17 points.

We can't afford to drop below below that performance level until the end of the season.

A lot of people have already written us off so I think we can quietly go about our business and have that steely determination.

We are 10 points behind at the bottom of the table but we still have to play Newcastle and there are games that we can win at home.

There are still points up for grabs. I have said from day one that I fully believe in this group of players and I still believe that we have got the ability to stay up.

We play Northampton Saints at Franklin's Gardens on Saturday and they will be no less of a physical test than Leicester.

But if there's one thing we have managed to do well in the last six to eight weeks, with the exception of the Exeter game, it's front up. Our set-piece has been solid and we have been good as a pack of forwards.

We are not daunted by or fear the challenge of Northampton but we need to go there with the same level we showed against Leicester as nothing else will be good enough.

This week has also seen Ryan Lamb arrive at the club and I think he's a great addition to our squad.

Number 10 is a crucial position in the team and Ryan will come in and provide another option for us.

He's got a lot of experience with several clubs and that will be very useful for us going into this part of the season.