IT is hard to express how frustrating it is to miss out on tomorrow's match against Wasps.

I have got to see a specialist about my back and I am not too sure whether my return is just around the corner or not. I've just got to keep my hopes up and see what happens.

There are just a few complications and it hasn't quite mended. It is not worth risking it for the sake of one game, no matter how important a game it is.

But it's not the end of the world, it's just going to take a little bit longer than we thought.

Come the Saracens match in a couple of weeks, I should be raring to go. The Wasps game was just perhaps a week too soon.

I have to admit it has been quite hard to come to terms with. But that is the nature of the sport we play. It is never easy when you are injured but you have got to learn to cope with the frustrations in the best way you can.

It's just the final ten per cent, which is making it hard to get back. It is quite painful and certain things still hurt. There is no point going out there unless you can try your absolute best.

We will have to wait and see what the specialist says but it may just be that I'm in pain for a while. I can cope with that and I will just get on with it.

It will be massively frustrating not to be involved against Wasps but it will be a huge game for the boys.

In some ways, it is a very similar situation to the one we were in last year. It was a massive game last year and it will be again this time around.

It is always going to be a huge test against a side as good as Wasps. Obviously they are going to miss some of their big guns -- the likes of Lawrence Dallaglio and Joe Worsley. But they have got great replacements.

They are similar to Leicester and Sale in that sense. They have all got great strength in depth. So to get a result against them is going to be extremely difficult.

They play a very dangerous brand of rugby. The pressure they put on you defensively is massive and they don't drop off tackles. You have to be massively committed to beat Wasps.

Even though Tom Voyce and Josh Lewsey will be with England, they still have very dangerous players -- not least Paul Sackey.

Whenever you face a side with someone like him, you know that they can score from anywhere. They have got a few players like that. Stuart Abbott in the centres is another one. We have got to concentrate on how we defend against teams like that.

We will be looking to do much better after not quite firing at Leeds the last time we played. But you have got to take into consideration that they are a desperate side and they were hugely motivated.

But it's like that for every single game now. There's nobody in the league that is not going for something. Every single week is a tight game.

We are at the money end of the season and it's now that results count!