Skipper Salts has my vote

I am sitting here with an ice-pack on my calf, desperate to speed up my recovery from a torn muscle because I simply hate being injured.

I am so keen to get back playing as soon as possible – and I have already set a target of the Montpellier game on January 25.

The Newcastle Falcons match on February 13 is so crucially important to our season, it is a must-win game, and I have to get some game-time against Montpellier if I am going to be fully fit for Newcastle.

We might also have to look into getting me a game somewhere else in the lead-up to Newcastle, because we have two weekends without a game between Montpellier and Newcastle.

I have been working on a machine called "the grappler", which is an upper-body weights machine and can be used even by players with broken legs. Two sessions in and I am already all "grappled" out. I just want to play rugby.

It is not just my calf that is causing me problems this week. I have got a nice black eye from where Robert Sidoli accidentally elbowed me in the face at Northampton.

I have taken a fair bit of stick at training because I look like a panda.

I have been wearing a bobble hat to keep warm and haven't had a shave – so with the black eye as well I look like a boxer, or worse than that, a mugger! I don't go round robbing old ladies, but I have certainly received some suspicious looks this week.

The big news at the club this week has been the captaincy issue – and I am disappointed for Shaun Perry. But bringing Matt Salter back in as skipper is not a bad thing if it allows Shaun to concentrate purely on his own game – and Salts has been through quite a few of these situations before. He certainly gets my vote of confidence and he will do a good job for the team.

I just wish I was there to help him at Saracens this weekend, which will be another tough game. We may be on a losing streak, but the mood remains good in the camp. But we know we have to start winning matches – and soon.