There is something very special about a local derby against a high-flying Gloucester side.

Outside of international rugby there are few games bigger than Bath Rugby v Gloucester matches and over the years, the two clubs have taken part in some memorable encounters. They are always hard and are never lacking commitment or action!

Gloucester currently lie second in the Zurich Premiership and have recorded some excellent results in recent weeks over the likes of London Wasps, Bristol Shoguns and Leeds Tykes. Philippe St Andre has assembled a very strong squad and I am sure that they will be fired up for the match. It is difficult to mention Gloucester without immediately thinking of their combative pack. They do have some fantastic forwards in the likes of Phil 'Raging Bull' Vickery, who had a fantastic autumn international series with England, Andy Hazell and Rob Fidler, but they now possess some rapier backs.

Henry Paul is an exceptional talent and it will be good to welcome him back to the Rec for the first time since his return to the Union code. He is a fantastic footballer who is capable of beating his man every time, so we will have to work hard to try and close him out of the game right from the kick-off.

Fly half Gerald Mercier has also been a revolution this season for the Cherry and Whites. The Frenchman is one of the Premiership's deadliest goal kickers and is comfortable slotting over penalties from distances of up to 60 metres!

We are going into the match in a positive frame of mind despite the disappointment of defeat to London Wasps at Loftus Road last Sunday. So what went wrong? Well, it would be difficult to place the blame on any one area as we simply under-performed in all aspects of the game. Our ball retention was particularly poor and therefore I don't think that we went more than two or three phases without gifting Wasps possession it was really frustrating! It was also disappointing to see some of the errors that dogged us at the beginning of the season come back into our game as we had worked hard to cut them out in recent games.

However, you simply have to put the disappointment behind you and move on in a positive frame of mind. We are certainly not a club in crisis by any means and we will undoubtedly bounce back from all the recent disappointments.

You only need look at the sheer talent that we have within the club both within our playing and coaching staff to see that we are more than capable of competing with and beating the best.

The mood within the camp this week has been that of determination. We know that we can get through this difficult patch, and when we do, I'm sure that we will claim some big scalps. At times we have threatened to produce the kind of form that we were in at the end of last season, and you need only to look at our record in the Heineken Cup to see that. It is just a case of working hard to cut out the errors and apply that success to our Zurich Premiership campaign. Yes, the defeat last weekend has made it very difficult for us to think about winning the league this season. But write us off at your peril! A top three finish in the table is still possible as, after all, we are only at the halfway stage in what has been an extremely competitive season so far.

Finally, I would like to end with a special thank you to all the Bath Rugby supporters.

Even through what has been a difficult first half to the season for all involved in the club the support both home and away has been fantastic and the squad really gets a lift from hearing all those voices cheering us on. We are going to need a lift against a strong Gloucester side tomorrow, so lets hear you all!