I think the point to make about Worcester is that, whilst we were in the lead at half time, we found ourselves in the second half competing against a team that were extremely hungry, that had not won in the Premiership, who had been in a position to rest key players in the preceeding two weeks.

There was a combination of factors. There was a physical fatigue element in the second half - our players competed back to back games against Harlequins in the Heineken Cup and then went into a busy league programme playing Wasps, Gloucester and Saracens. Then we played Stade Francais and Cardiff and then into the Worcester game.

I think it was a case of a final 40 minutes too far. We've had a significant amount of injuries over the period I've just alluded to, meaning that we had very little margin to rotate the squad and rest people in key positions.

Then there were key turning points like losing Tom (Arscott) and Ronnie (Mark Regan) very close to one another and then Salts got sinbinned. Those were three subtractions from the squad that ultimately meant that we were up against it.

Once Worcester scored from the catch and drive, we were really on the back foot. We'd been trying extremely hard for the preceeding 50 minutes to keep them out and Tom Arscott scored a great opportunist try.

Key elements of our game, most notably the lineout, didn't function and I know that the players and coaches are working very hard on that ahead of our next game against Gloucester.

But we've now had a week where we've eased back on the rugby side of training and done a little bit more on fun and fitness before heading into a week off when the boys can rest and recuperate.

So, we should report back as a squad fully refreshed and with a couple of the boys, hopefully Nathan Budgett and Dan Ward-Smith, back from injury, we'll be looking forward to playing Gloucester.

We did have a good day at HMS Raleigh when the boys went down to work with the Royal Navy. They were in a simulated ship which was sinking. It was very, very cold water and it sorted the men out from the boys.

Alfie To'oala came to the fore and Chippy (Jason Strange) didn't! He was more worried about his contact lenses than he was about saving his ship mates! He said he didn't think he'd be heading down to the recruitment office afterwards...

Despite being a former Royal Marine, I was no help to the boys! I was very much land based during my time in the Service. Despite deploying by ship, I'm no sailor and it was just as cold and wet and miserable for me as it was for everyone else!

But it was great fun, a great bonding day and the boys really enjoyed it.

Some of the boys obviously couldn't make it as they were preparing for international games. I spoke to Ronnie yesterday and he's excited about taking on Wales and on fine form. As always, I know that he'll do club and country proud.

And I'm very pleased for Jason Hobson. There's been a lot of talk about whether he's English, Welsh or Irish. But he's now nailing his English rose to the mast and has got some pretty good company around him when he takes the field up at Leicester.

I really wish him well and hope he has a fantastic game and it's the start of an illustrious England career.

Luke Eves and Ryan Prosser will also be locking horns at Kingsholm tonight playing for England U20 and Wales U20 respectively. They'll have a fantastic stage to play on and it'll be a really good taste of international rugby for the pair of them. Good luck to them and also to Josh Brown of Scotland. It's good to see Bristol represented at any level.

Finally, we signed off today with an informal but important ceremony of sorts. Richard (Hill) has been outstanding in terms of how he has rebuilt the club in the past five years.

The cornerstone of that has been close contact with the community and the PROPS charity has been something that the club has supported all the way through that period.

One of the risks as we've got more successful is to forget these things and one of the things that Richard does well, and we as a club do well, is to remember our principles and core values.

It was great to see the six boys receive their certificates and a good way to sign off on a week's leave. We were in the presence of some people who were more disadvantaged than ourselves which makes us all a little humble and appreciate how lucky we are. We will continue vigorously to support these causes.

Until next time.

CP