The disappointing thing is that in a lot of our losses we have been leading but have been unable to hold that position. It's been a bit of a frustrating season, lots of good things but too many not so good, and we now look destined for the Challenge cup again next season.
But taking a step back and trying to look at the bigger picture, I think we over-achieved last season, and some of our wins were of the slightly fortunate variety. We didn't lose many players to the Scotland squad either, so weren't much weakened during the international windows. This season has been different; we've lost more players during the internationals, and maybe lady luck hasn't been so kind to us. One positive from this should be that it re-sets expectations on how easy it is to go from being perennial bottom-feeders to regular play-off participants. We are still in the early stages of this process, and hopefully the setbacks of this season will make all those concerned, players and coaches, even more determined to put in the hard work required to succeed. It was never going to be easy.