The talk all week was of building on our performance against Leicester and concentrating on our systems and patterns while leaving the scoreboard to one side. It is something often said in sport that if you take care of the process the result will look after itself and it is very true, but human nature has accounted for some strange results over the years. So as we stepped into the unknown, it was down to the players to put all thoughts of bonus points to the back of their minds and to open up with a full on assault to hopefully tire out the Italians so we could take advantage later in the game.

An early Carlos Spencer try calmed the nerves but then a loose pass from Chris Wyles let Parma in. Not the ideal scenario but there was enough in the opening exchanges to suggest that if we held the ball and our shape we would get what we came for. Then, true to form, we lost another back to injury. Stephen Myler had been added to squad earlier in the week after his excellent performance the weekend before and lasted all of about 10 minutes before taking a blow to the outside of his knee and sustaining medial ligament damage. I did, for one brief moment, think it might not be our day. However, 20 minutes later and the bonus point was secured and we could all breath a little easier.

Back to back games are fascinating for players and fans alike. Not very often in sport you get the chance, a week after the first game, to exact revenge or see if you can back up and do the double. The challenge for us, in a game we should win, is to make improvements in all areas of the game. The temptation will be there to expect things to just happen and forget that it is hard work and selfless play which makes the game look easy. One thing we have in our favour is the competition for places among the forwards. Mark Easter has made good progress and Daniel Browne is coming back to form along with the unlucky Sam Harding. Damien Browne and Christian Short are both returning to keep pressure on in the second row. So an interesting afternoon ahead for us all and hopefully a big step towards a Heineken cup quarter-final.

Enjoy.