There were reasons why last Saturday's performance was not 'pretty' to the eye. Our set piece was not as efficient as we would wish. The execution of our plays off the set piece was also poor, and significantly when we did get our game going the Newcastle defence inevitably were to be found offside around the fringes, and although referee Roy Maybank penalised them for this, it did stop the flow of our game. The fact that Paul Burke had eight kicks at goal tells you all you need to know about how the game was played by our opposition! It was a very tight game, and we had to take all our chances to win. Something Fiji may learn from in the World Cup, where they nearly blew the game against USA by kicking for the corner rather than taking the three points from an easy penalty when they were only six points in front, and with only seven minutes to go!

We did pick up a couple of injuries in last weekend's game. Ace Tiatia has a torn calf muscle and will be out of action for approximately four weeks, while Josh Taumalolo has finally succumbed to the tight hamstring he has been carrying for a couple of weeks and will be missing this weekend. On the positive front both Chris Bell and Karl Rudzki have returned to full training and are expected to take the field at some stage in our second team game against Northampton at the Stoop on Monday 27th October - KO 7.30pm.

George Harder is continuing his re-hab programme. His medial ligament strain was worse than originally diagnosed, but we would still hope to have him back in action in the next three weeks.

Our Powergen Cup game away to Leeds Tykes will be played on Friday 14th November KO 8pm, this will be the middle game of three as we now face Leeds three times in five weeks in both the Zurich Premiership and Powergen Cup.

And so we turn to Saturday, and a very difficult game against last seasons form side Gloucester. It will be a difficult game, Gloucester have a unique style in the Zurich Premiership based on a number of fine ball carriers and line breakers playing out very wide, and this weekend we are also likely to see the debut at fly half of the former Saracens No. 10 Duncan McRae. Duncan is a fine player, who can pass off both hands, and also has a good step; he will cause us a few extra headaches in defence.

As a warm up to the main event on Saturday, the doors will be opening at 11.30am at the Stoop to allow everyone the opportunity to watch the England Vs South Africa game either in the bar or on the big screen in the corner of the ground.

Once England have won that game (Sorry Andre!) I hope that you will all get behind the team and 'bring the roof down' in supporting the boys as they look for another home win.

Look forward to seeing you all on Saturday.