BEFORE Sunday afternoon, London Welsh were unbeaten this season at Old Deer Park.

Taking that record from them was no mean feat and, from speaking with some of the boys, we put in a much-improved performance to the previous week.

We improved in key areas, such as our defence which was needed against a stronger attacking side.

We still conceded two tries, but, as our experience and knowledge using a press defence increases, we will be a much harder side to break down.

Once we reach the play-offs, we will strive to have the best defence in the league.

It was fantastic to see Pat Sanderson back on the pitch and pleasing he was able to cross the whitewash on his return.

Pat has a huge role to play in moulding the remainder of our season and keeping him in the shape he is in now will make our lives easier moving forward.

Once again, our points machines on the wings produced yet more tries to add to their ever-mounting tallies.

Keeping the ball for multi-phases is massively important to give these guys the opportunities to do what they do best.

We are lucky to have such strong finishers on our wings, both starting and raring to go in the background.

We will no doubt be seeing the likes of Oriol Ripol tearing through defences sooner rather than later.

The boys coming in will have points to prove and want to stake their claim so it is exciting to see the names we still have to come back.

At this half-way stage of the regular season I feel satisfied with the look of the league table.

The story of how we have arrived six points clear at the top is a bit of an emotional rollercoaster.

However, if we had been offered this position at the beginning of the campaign, I feel most would have taken it.

The second-half offers stern away tests and a chance to build some comprehensive wins in front of hopefully big home crowds.

It also presents the challenge of cutting out the errors we have made so far and reaching somewhere close to our potential for the business end of the season.

We will welcome Plymouth Albion to Sixways on Saturday, having narrowly beaten them 26-19 down at Brickfields earlier in the year.

I am sure we will present ourselves as a much stronger outfit than the one they faced back in September.

Plymouth do, however, grace us as an in-form side, having won two, drawn one and lost by one point in the last four games.

Most recently, they ran a struggling but dangerous Bristol side close and so will be looking for revenge against us — another ‘big name’ in the league.

The Warriors lucky enough to be selected will look to put things right from the last unconvincing home outing when we beat Nottingham 35-28.

It should be a great game from the sidelines and, for the sake of the guys playing, I hope it is an enjoyable one.

Finally, it would be criminal not to mention the Warriors’ singing last week in aid of Leukaemia CARE, a very worthwhile charity.

Please spare a moment to look at their website at raise4leukaemia.org.uk.

Unfortunately, the spoils went to the home side as the Malvern Theatres choir came out on top.

The Warriors choir, affectionately known as The Foregate Street Boys, produced a fantastic performance and left with the hugely-appreciated ‘bravery award’!

It would be a further crime for me not to mention that everyone can be their own judge as the video was uploaded to YouTube within seconds of the performance ending. Enjoy!