UNFORTUNATELY the game at Sale last Friday proved to be as difficult as it has been in the last few years and I think that if you’re going to win games, you need to take your chances – Bath just weren’t clinical.

You expected Bath to have periods where they saw a lot of the ball but they just didn’t take their chances when they came along. It’s disappointing because when you looking at the fixtures at the start of the season, you’d think that was a match that they could win.

It’s encouraging to see that the other sides in the league are taking points off each other at the moment and you have to look at it and think that the league is going to be even more competitive this season.

I think that there are three clear groups in the Premiership. You’ve got the group which are above Bath’s level at this moment in time, which is made up of North- ampton, Leicester, Saracens and Quins but then I’d place us at the top of the next group, along with Exeter, Wasps and their ilk.

Of couse, it’s still very early days and I think that you wait until Christmas time to look where you are in the table and assess how things are going.

At Trowbridge, I was so relieved to see us win that game against Sherborne last weekend.

They were the only side that beat us at home last season and, for the players’ psyche, it was really important to come through that game.

I wanted to instill some belief in the players because they have improved as a side this year but it’s hard to prove that if we aren’t winning tough games like that.

I still think that we’re three weeks’ behind because we missed a few weeks of pre-season, which was down to our own organisation, but we’re getting there slowly.

As a coach, I’ve had a chance to see all of the sides in our league now and we’re playing a slightly different style of rugby because we don’t want to be predictable.