I spent last Saturday watching England's resounding victory at a very quiet Twickenham.

It seemed incredulous that close on 80, 000 people could keep so quiet whilst witnessing one of England's highest scores ever against the Welsh.

Clive Woodward's team were completely clinical in their destruction of the Welsh. For me, the professional approach of the England players is what sets them apart from the men in red.

Physical conditioning, skill development, nutrition and lifestyle management are all areas where the English players are worlds apart.

Danny Grewcock is a fine example of this new-look physical specimen. He was back with Bath this week, one of the first in the gym on Monday morning.

A two-hour weights session followed by an hour's core stability work and then a team meeting were all in the bag before he could even begin to tell us about his fine sidestep that set up England's final try.

The end result which we all see on occasions like last Saturday are a reward to the continual push for excellence that Woodward and his team of coaches have instilled in the national squad. Add to Saturday's team another half- dozen world class players currently out injured and the future looks good. Even considering the elusive grand slam.

At Bath we need to take out a leaf of the England book and strive for excellence in our preparation.

Attention to detail in our everyday lives is a start on our long road to improvement. This has started this week in the build-up to the Northampton game.

We are all desperate to be part of a really strong finish to the 2001/02 season.

A comprehensive review of our failings in the Saracens game early this week highlighted areas requiring a lot of work.

However, the underlying theme for our six-game mini-season has to be passion and more passion. Whatever the result, we will be full on right to the final whistle.

The players we have at Bath can and must deliver this. Danny Grewcock is one of many that have worked extremely hard this week to this end.

Northampton are on form and flying high but focus this week has very much been Bath and our game.

Mike Foley now has Jon Palmer to assist with the backs and the two of them have guided us through a very upbeat week.

We know our situation is dire but the excitement of the challenge is in the air. This is as important a time for Bath rugby as any other in our history