AFTER six tough Aviva Premiership matches, last week gave us a chance to reflect and review. The facts are that we have won two and lost four, but, as mentioned previously, I feel we were in a position to do much better.

We have sat down and self-analysed our performances, picking out where we went right and where we fell short. In order to analyse effectively, much like in any other industry, it requires honesty.

You have to be brutally open about not only your own performance, but also your team-mates. It was a very productive few days and we have taken a great deal from it.

Following this, a group of players have been given a small break before they enter a ‘development window’. These players have played the majority of the rugby this season so in order to maintain a fully fit and functioning squad, it is important we rotate when we can. The development window is basically a micro pre-season with very individualised programmes.

These blocks are in essence top-ups in each player’s work-on areas where normal playing schedule wouldn’t allow.

The demands of playing week in, week out are huge and so the real quality strength and conditioning training is difficult to get in.

For the rest of us, the challenge of the opening LV= Cup group game lay in store. First up, we welcomed Wasps to Sixways with both teams wanting a good start in the competition.

For many of us, Saturday was our first taste of competitive first-team rugby this season. It was great to start it off with a win, even though we were disappointed with our performance.

We started the game well and put Wasps under pressure early on with some good attacking rugby and well-placed kicks from Joe Carlisle. This pressure told when Andy Short popped up on Josh Drauniniu’s inside shoulder and he then managed to release Tom Arscott for his first of two tries.

The pack controlled things well and won the physical battle. Our second rows, Craig Gillies and Chris Jones, were in control at line-out time too, nullifying their back-line as they failed to win any attacking line-outs.

Following this, we lacked a bit of precision and gave away a couple of silly penalties, which allowed Wasps back in. The youthful Wasps side would have been happy with the half-time score at 10-6.

Unfortunately, we again lacked precision in the second-half and, through some poor defending, Wasps crossed our line to take the lead. In truth, we knew by this point they shouldn’t have even be close.

We did at times show some good attacking shape and thanks to some individual brilliance, Tom scored his second try of the match and we regained the lead.

Generally, we let ourselves down with the final pass and this is a trait we identified last week — to move forward, we need to be clinical.

Wasps put us under pressure at the end of the game, but our discipline was much-improved and we forced them into taking a drop-goal attempt to snatch a win. Danny Gray was fast off the line to put their kicker under pressure and it paid off.

The final score of 20-19 was far too close, we will need to improve by at least 25 per cent in all areas if we want to beat Bath away from home.

Lastly, this has been a difficult time for me and my family, but I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their kind messages and support over the last couple of weeks.