Why did we lose? There are a number of factors, some within our control, some not.

In the first half we turned the ball over ten times while in possession. Either losing control of our scrummage ball, dropping simple passes or not presenting the ball well enough in the tackle area, all of these errors meant that we were unable to sustain territorial pressure on a well organized Leeds side. In addition, certain player's would openly admit that they did not have the best of games; this will come out in the player's and coaches assessment of the game, and is certainly not for me to name people here.

It is also true to say that we certainly did not get the 'rub of the green' in terms of the refereeing decisions. You can debate for hours one or two of the penalty decisions given against us in the second half; I certainly did; you can argue that we may have had a penalty try in the dying minutes of the game, I certainly would; but the fact remains that the referee made his decisions in good faith and to the best of his ability. We cannot control the referee, but we certainly can control our own performance and the result of our performance last Saturday was extremely disappointing.

On the injury front, Paul Burke is recovering well from his bruised ribs sustained against Bath and should be available for selection for the second leg of our Parker Pen Challenge Cup game against Cetransa El Salvador. Mike Worsley suffered back spasms last weekend before coming off just before half time. He will not been involved this weekend, but should be back in action very soon. George Harder is now expecting to take some part in the home game against Cetransa next weekend.

In addition to these players, Andre Vos, Tony Diprose and Ben Willis are all being rested this weekend, and both Jason Leonard and Will Greenwood will not be traveling to Spain with the squad on Saturday.

This will therefore provide a huge opportunity to a number of the squad to stake a claim for a place in the starting XV for the three difficult away games we face over the Christmas/New Year period. In successive weeks we face Sale Sharks, Gloucester and Newcastle; these games have now become crucial to the final outcome of our season, and the desire to achieve Heineken Cup qualification for next season.

We do not know an awful lot about our Spanish opponents. They are the current National Champions of Spain, they are unbeaten in twenty nine domestic games, and a number of their players are Spanish internationals, including the entire back row.

It is important that we get back to winning ways, and that we regain the confidence that the team had earlier in the season. This process will start on Sunday in Northern Spain, and continue at the Stoop on the 13th December in the second leg.

To those of you traveling to Spain, thank you for continuing to support the team and I hope you all have a great weekend.

PS - The Rugby World Cup will be making an appearance at the Stoop on Saturday 13th December at the Cetransa El Salvador game. Make sure you come along to see it first hand.