WE began the New Year in the best possible style as we overcame the Irish.

Saturday's 16-6 win over London Irish was great for everybody involved at Sixways and more so because of what had been happening behind the scenes.

If you consider that we'd prepared all week with James Brown in mind to start and he had to be removed from the equation minutes before kick-off, it brings home the impressive nature of the result.

James suffered what the medical people call a 'concussive incident' during our game at Leicester last Monday, therefore we were duty bound to put him through the new testing procedure which dictates a computer assessment. The results are sent off via email to Australia and you get the verdict back the same way.

We left Sixways on Friday night expecting to see James' results on the computer come Saturday morning. Sadly they weren't there and frantic calls and emails on the morning before kick-off were ultimately to no avail as the results didn't materialise.

That meant we had a moral obligation to pull James out of the firing line and to Tommy Hayes' credit, he came in at the 11th hour and certainly didn't let us down. As we all suspected, the results were clear when they finally did arrive but that didn't quite help our preparation for such an important match.

I must also pay tribute to some of the walking wounded at the club. Andre Van Niekerk was hobbling around with a hip problem for most of the week before the game but he played 67 minutes for us and put in a big effort.

Thomas Lombard and Dale Rasmussen were both playing after taking painkillers and they were excellent once again in the middle of the park. Tommy hasn't been able to train properly while Ben Hinshelwood's back problems are well documented so our predicament certainly underlines that it's not just about rugby players simply turning up and taking home the cash.

Our players are willing to put their bodies on the line for Worcester Rugby Club and their team-mates. I think that speaks volumes for the character of the players at Sixways. We've always said you need the right 'type' of player in order to be successful and these are the moments that illustrate why. Saturday was about hunger and desire and we thoroughly deserved our win.

People should also consider that the players went into the match on the back of a 50-7 mauling at Leicester but they bounced back brilliantly. It's worth noting that Saturday's win was the third time the squad had come back following a big defeat.

We beat Harlequins after our heavy loss at Sale, we showed our steel at Northampton following that painful Sixways set-back against Leicester and we did the same on Saturday. That illustrates our character.

We had a bit of luck during Saturday's game but we also executed the game plan well. It wasn't pretty -- it wasn't meant to be -- but we got the result which was all important. Matt Powell played a pivotal role in that victory and took the plaudits from the newspapers in the days that followed! He's certainly developed as a player but also as a person while he's been at Worcester.

He's a lot more professional this season in the sense that he analyses the opposition a lot more. All the players are given a detailed analysis of the other side as we lead up to the game and Matt certainly enjoys trying to 'work out' the opposition.

If you look at his situation, he was, in many people's eyes, the third choice scrum-half at the start of the season.

Instead of moping around, though, he has worked hard on his game, shown the right attitude and appetite and he's got his just desserts. It's another reminder that if you have the right mentality, you've always got a chance.

We welcome Leonessa to Sixways for our second Friday night game of the season. This European Shield competition is never going to be a big priority for us but with only one more Premiership match this month, we need to keep some players on the field.

We've always had to think about our domestic preparation in regards to these European fixtures but, as we will have a week off following the second leg in Italy, it makes our situation a little different.

What's clear is that our home form and the support we get are intrinsically linked. We've enjoyed our best performances this season when we've had the backing of the supporters and the win over Irish was a prime example of that mixture.

Hopefully, we can recreate another special Friday feeling tomorrow.