Tough couple of days

IT HAS been a tough couple of days with us losing at Leeds on Sunday and the Warriors going down to Exeter last night.
As I only played for about 15 minutes on Sunday at Leeds, last night’s game offered me a chance to have a run out, which was good.
It is always tough playing Exeter. With them having a squad of 45-50 full-time professionals any team they put out is going to be good.
They don’t really have a second team. They can put out pretty much a first team squad every time they play so it was always going to be a tough match.
It was difficult because some of us were playing with each other for the first time.
I have not played before with a lot of the younger guys.
But it was a good run out, but in those conditions the ball was not really going to come wide much.
Sunday was disappointing. But we knew going to Leeds was going to be a tough test. We knew we had to be A+ to win the game.
We came out strong and scored early and we put them on their heels a bit.
Throughout the game we produced a lot of good play when we had the ball in hand and we did attack them, but we just slipped up a few times defensively. And you can’t afford to do that against top teams because the reason why they are at the top is because they are really sharp and will take their chances.
Obviously any loss is disappointing, but we have to take the positives and bring them to the game against Coventry this weekend.
That is going to be another tough match for us.
It is another away game and any fixture on the road is hard. In this league teams play better at home.
We beat them down here on the opening day of the season so they are going to be hoping to get their revenge.
It will be a tough task but I think we are up to the challenge.
I don’t think the loss at Leeds has knocked our spirit or confidence.
We did not lose to a lesser team and I don’t think it has taken the wind from our sails.
We had been playing well and we have to believe in ourselves.
You have to learn from every week and try and fix problems. Hopefully, we can do that.
I have been on the bench the last couple of weeks after returning from three weeks away with Canada.
Like I said before I went away it is always tough leaving as people will take your spot. Now it is up to me to try and get it back.
I am a firm believer that no one is entitled to a jersey. You have to earn it.
Other people have earned their places while me and Sean-Michael Stephen have been away. Now my job is to get my place back.
I am desperately keen to get back as I want to get a few more tries.
Matt Hopper (pictured above) has now joined me on four tries for the season after scoring against Leeds, Cornish Pirates and twice against Esher.
He has got a pretty good strike-rate getting four in three games and he’s brought a challenge to me.
He has come into the team and really stepped up, which is good to see.