I was watching Gabs very closely in defence all game, as I too have been concerned, but I actually thought he was much-improved. Sure, maybe that's not saying much, but I thought if anything that Earle was worse than Gabs in defence yesterday - got absolutely skinned on a couple of occasions. He reminds me a bit of Ugo - his top-end, straight-line pace is great, but it takes him sooo long to get going. I don't know how much acceleration you can 'add' in training but it's one thing I feel he needs to work on. Don't get me wrong, he's still our best all-round winger - I'd just love to see him be able to fly off the mark. It let him down yesterday.
Overall, though, I left The Stoop feeling a bit disappointed (not quite as intensely as Blucher) that it definitely felt like a step backwards defensively. It doesn't really matter how great Worcester's backs are supposed to be - we looked ropey from the off. However, we got away with it and I'm happy to chalk it up as a one-off rusty game after a long period without any serious competitive game time for most of those guys. Maybe letting them go off on holiday backfired slightly? Either way, I expect Gussy to give them a right kick up the derriere in training this week and hopefully we won't see that again...