Bristol would have taken two points – probably even a losing bonus point – before Saturday's draw at Worcester.

What is encouraging is that some of the senior players are starting to show some much-needed consistency and authority in matches.

It was a much-improved performance. The forwards more than held their own and the backs looked dangerous. My man of the match, Dan Ward-Smith, put in another storming performance.

Lee Robinson was the pick of the backs. When he had the ball he ran hard and showed how good he is, and he seems to have an air of confidence

You could tell this was a relegation battle because in the initial exchanges of play plenty of mistakes were made.

Worcester really pummelled us in the second half, Lee Robinson was sin binned and if they scored any more points we may have struggled to hold on.

I couldn't see why the penalty try was given. It seemed a little bit hasty. The referee could have reset the scrum one more time perhaps.

He had already allowed umpteen resets and you could not definitely say that a try would have been scored.

But the players showed plenty of resolve and Lee's try made up for his binning and put Bristol back in front.

Bristol shaded the contest. It was a high tackle on Lemi that led to our last-gasp penalty and it was deserved for a good all-round performance.

What was good about this game was that we stuck to it for the 80 minutes. There was a never-say-die attitude that we all associate with any team that wears the Bristol shirt. They showed pride and made us proud. On this performance things are looking up for 2009, and if consistency of performances can be maintained, things are looking bright for Gloucester and for the new year.