OUR performance at Gloucester was really disappointing — it was one of those days when anything that could go wrong, did go wrong.

We were very disappointed as a team because it was a good opportunity to keep our momentum going with a win down at Kingsholm.

There is no point dwelling on the result because it has happened now and we go into this week very much looking forward to our third Premiership game of the season.

Of course, we will look at the video of the Gloucester game and do our analysis, but the lads are now all just extremely excited to get out there against the reigning champions Saracens at Vicarage Road on Sunday.

Sarries are a quality outfit and we will be looking very closely at their last few games this week as we prepare for the game this weekend.

I don’t think Joe Carlisle had a terrible game against Gloucester. A couple of things went wrong for him and unfortunately people tend to remember them rather than the good things.

He began the game with a couple of excellent kicks to touch and a few others could have been brilliant, but just went the wrong side of the flag — the margins are so small.

I don’t understand why people seem to get on his back so much — he has put in some great performances for us, most recently in the pre-season game with Argentina.

We all know what he is like as a player — he is great to play alongside and it is extremely enjoyable to play outside him.

People often like to have someone to love in the team, but they also like to have someone to hate too — Joey is a bit like Marmite for our fans.

From the players’ and coaches’ point of view, though, we are 100 per cent behind him and we know he is very much the future of this club.

We heard yesterday that Dale Rasmussen had been cited for an alleged dangerous tackle in our win over Sale and it would be a huge blow to lose him as he has been one of our best players so far this season.

It wouldn’t be ideal if he was banned, but we have the players in our squad to come in for Dale if necessary who can do a great job.

The club announced today that we have signed Samoan international number eight Richard Muagututia and it is great to add another member to the squad as it is a long, hard season and he will strengthen our back row options.

From my point of view, we are not going to rush my injury and risk suffering a set-back.

We will make a call later this week if I can feature against Saracens, but we are determined to make sure it is completely right instead of coming back too soon.

I am hoping to get back out there as soon as possible, but it is a long season — I don’t have a definite time-scale for my return, but it is nothing serious. We just want to make sure it is right.