By Whaley Shark
September 16 2012

Well, I took a bunch of notes at last week’s game against Saracens, then the day job got in the way and I guess a blow-by-blow account of a 16-23 loss won’t be of much interest now.

So, instead, I guess it’s time for a bit of early season navel-gazing. Played three, lost three; points for 36, points against 103; tries scored 2, tries conceded 11; tenth in the table, with only the ‘London’ Celts below us, and that could change for the worse this afternoon if London Welsh get their act together against Exeter. It’s all starting to feel like a timewarp, reliving the dreary seasons of four or five years ago.

On the other hand, the glass-half-full view is that we’ve had a tough start to the season, playing two of the top four sides, plus taking on our West Country Bogeymen in their lair and, realistically, I would have been very pleased and surprised to win any one of those games.

Trying to be objective, I felt that two losing bonus points from these three games was the most likely outcome and, in the event, we’ve got one. So perhaps we’re not as far behind where we might expect to be?

The concern for me is therefore not so much the defeats, which I think were probably to be expected, but the manner of them. In both our away games, we have ended up on the end of heavy beatings, and this campaign is going to be long and hard if our opponents start to look on a visit from Sale as a guaranteed 5 points and, worse still, if we start to feel it’s acceptable to fold like that on the road. Against Sarries, we showed glimpses but, to be honest, I felt we were always second best and, indeed, that Sarries had at least one more gear if they’d needed it. We’ve been much more injury-hit this season than last, but I get the sense we are off the pace and some of last season’s ‘Year Zero’ pledges have lost their value.

So next up, it’s London Welsh at Barton. Round Four of the AP is rather early for a relegation dogfight but this sure as Hell looks like one. The winner gets the chance to put some daylight between themselves and the AP basement. We badly need the win to get the season up and running quickly, with away games at Bath and Worcester (tough but winnable if we get a grip) and home games against Leicester (Hmmmm!) and London Irish (shaping up to be another basement battle), before the first break in the AP programme. Equally, Welsh must be thinking that this is one to target. So I expect a dour, attritional, nervous match next Friday at Barton. Watch this space....