Well, boys, I guess my, um, one-on-one pep talks at the Sponsors' evening put a touch of lead in the old pencils. You should be grateful. Mmmm, that Keith is a hunk though.

Really? I'm still not convinced. Instead of him being supposedly solid in defence, I'm actually finding myself holding my breath every time the opposition attacks down his side of the field. He doesn't look to have much pace at all, barely any sidestep, and his fend has been ineffective so far.

But I'm not writing him off yet, I know it will take time, but I really do fear the worst for Saturday especially if he is up against Atkins.

I also thought Lulia was much improved at Wakey. He came out the line and closed down Mathers, took his try well and got a couple of decent passes out to Crookes. If he can perform like he did last season at Newcastle he will be a good player for us. Strong, cool headed and able to draw defender to make space for his winger. I'm looking forward to seeing the partnership with Crookes develop in the next few months.

Be interested to see stats to see how much ball Lulia actually got. Seemed like everytime ball looked to be going out wide we instead chose to pads it back into middle.