DERBY defeats are always painful, but last weekend's 31-17 defeat to Bristol was especially disappointing for everyone involved with the club.

The week prior to the match had been good. There was a real 'derby' feeling within the squad and morale was high, despite losing seven players to the various international camps once again.

For the old guard (and I suppose I can include myself in this category), the match took on an extra significance. Matches against Bristol are always fiercely competitive, and we went into the match desperate to avenge our first ever defeat in a competitive match at the Memorial Stadium 12 months ago.

However, the match certainly did not go to plan. Taking nothing away from Bristol, for they were terribly committed, we simply came out of the blocks half asleep and found ourselves 31-3 down before we woke up.

I was not at all pleased with my own performance. I started the match poorly, and wasted the few scoring penalty opportunities that we had. After that mistakes crept into my game. I was really annoyed with myself.

For 60 minutes we struggled to get into the match as Garath Archer and Alex Brown gave us a really hard time up front. With the likes of Grewcock and Borthwick absent, we simply could not compete and even when we finally clicked in the final quarter, the damage was already done.

However, it was not all doom and gloom, and I'm totally positive that we will come out of these testing times a much stronger squad. In difficult circumstances, I was particularly encouraged that at 31-3 down, and staring down the barrel of an embarrassing rout, we did not let our heads drop and managed to wrestle our way back into the game.

The tries from Gareth Cooper and Olly Barkley were fantastic team scores, proving that the ability is certainly there.

One player in particular should be singled out. James Scaysbrook played superbly and it was his powerful break that set up the first try for Coops.

At just 19, he is an outstanding young talent at open side and someone that we must keep hold of.

Moving on, I was naturally disappointed not to have been involved in the England squad to face South Africa at Twickenham tomorrow, While I would have loved to have been involved, I realise that I must now go and knuckle down for Bath.

Jason Robinson, who has been selected at full back, is an exceptional footballer. He has my total support and I'm sure that he will do a fantastic job. Jason received a lot of criticism before the Australia match for an apparent inability to catch or kick a ball. But he left no one in doubt of his quality after the match.

Attention for me now turns to Sunday and the visit of Rob Andrew's Newcastle Falcons to the Rec.

They are in fine form, having climbed to second in the Premiership, and I expect this to be another tough match up front because they have a massive pack. Again we will be hit in the absence of a number of international players this weekend, although Steve Borthwick's return to the side after a superb match against Romania will ensure that we have an in-form second row to boost the squad.

I'm confident that we will play better than against Bristol. We owe it not only to ourselves, but also the fans who part with hard earned money to come and give us fantastic support.

That support is important to the team, and I'm positive that vocal encouragement will be worth at least six points to the team. So let's hear those voices.

Losing with Bath hurts deeply. I can assure you that we are ready to atone for the defeat last weekend. Everyone has worked doubly hard this week to ensure that we come out against the Falcons in the right frame of mind, determined to play our game and take the spoils.

Here is to an England victory over the Boks tomorrow, and a victory for Bath against Newcastle on Sunday to get our season back on track. Thanks.