THIS week has certainly been an interesting one for us all at Bath Rugby, as on Tuesday we were whisked away for a couple of days of team building ahead of tomorrow's crucial Zurich Premiership match at the Rec against in-form Northampton Saints.

Our base for the week was the idyllic setting of the Redwood Lodge Hotel and Country Club complex at Long Ashton in Bristol.

The reasoning behind the 'get together' was to provide us with a camp-style environment, similar to those enjoyed by International squads in the run up to matches.

As players, Redwood Lodge provided the perfect place for us to get away from it all and concentrate on our final six matches in the Premiership as a squad without any outside interruptions.

While we did take part in a number of fun team building exercises, I must stress that the main objective of the week was not so much fun, but to get us completely focused for the run in to the season.

More importantly, it brought together a squad that has been disjointed by injuries latterly, and staying together under one roof really seemed to work as we learned a lot more about each other.

The aim is clear. We need to win at least three of our remaining six Premiership matches to avoid relegation, but our objective is slightly different.

We must not panic, take one match at a time and be confident in our ability.

We have a talented squad and we are capable of keeping this great club in the Premiership.

However, it is not unrealistic to state that we can still gun for a place in the Zurich Championship, and an outside chance of qualifying for next season's Heineken Cup.

That is exactly how tight it is between Saracens in seventh place and Quins at the bottom.

Looking ahead to tomorrow's clash. Northampton Saints are in fine form. Since Wayne Smith took over the reigns at Franklin's Gardens just before Christmas, the Saints have experienced an excellent run in both the Premiership and Powergen Cup competitions.

They are full of confidence at the moment and are playing some fantastic rugby and this will be a massive test for us all. When you look at their squad it is difficult to find a weakness as they can field a whole team of experienced internationals.

From All Black legend Andrew Blowers, to England's prolific try scorer Ben Cohen they ooze talent, but they can be stopped.

We have a game plan which we are confident will be a game-winner.

Creating scoring chances has been a problem this season, but we have worked hard on this over the week and think that we have ironed out a few problems.

We will just have to wait until tomorrow.

While defeat is not an option, it would not be the end of the world. We still have home fixtures against fellow strugglers Leeds Tykes and London Wasps to come and these will be the big matches.

While away matches against Newcastle, London Irish and Gloucester will be tough, they could still provide us with a long overdue first away win in the Premiership.

Finally, I would like to finish by keeping you updated on my own injury situation.

Rest, rest and more rest is the plan at the moment. It is frustrating as I would like to be there helping out the team, but I have to make sure that my body is fully ready before making a decision on a return. If that is not until next season, then so be it.

Matt Perry