Former Bath, England & Lions centre

Gloucester fans rejoice; your team have finally beaten Bath at the Recreation Ground for the first time since the league started 20 years ago.

The Gloucester fans and players had waited a long time to win at the Rec

Dean Ryan, the Gloucester coach, said "sometimes it's just about the result" and I agree wholeheartedly.

Up until the last 10 minutes Gloucester always looked the team most likely to win the local derby because they consistently won the collisions in the tackle area.

Bath captain Michael Lipman was outplayed by his opposite number Andy Hazell and that set the pattern for the day.

Matt Stevens underperformed and I hope he is not living off the back of his performances last season.

If he wants to claim the England prop slot ahead of his rivals then he will have to perform a lot better than on Saturday - England boss Martin Johnson was watching and would not have been impressed.

South African fly-half Butch James has to take a lot of the responsibility for Bath losing the match because he missed five kicks at goal and if he had kicked any two of those Bath would have won the game.

He also had a kick charged down that led to Gloucester scoring and his tactical kicking was woeful, but I suppose at some stage his performances had to start dipping because he has been playing non-stop for more than 12 months.

Something had to give and it did against Gloucester.

You will see me mention the words tempo and pace a lot this season.

On past performances Rupeni Caucaunibuca is the most exciting player in world rugby and if Leicester take him on he will light up the Premiership

Bath did not control the tempo of this match because Gloucester forced the pace with their very aggressive front foot defence.

It really squeezed Bath, forcing mistakes and stopping the hosts dictating the pattern of the game.

There was not a great deal in Gloucester's attacking patterns to make me believe they are worthy favourites for the title this year, but when new signing Olly Barkley slots into this talented backline you should see them start to fire.

Losing at home is poor form and Bath coach Steve Meehan, who has transformed this team over the past couple of seasons, has to inject enthusiasm to go with his side's intelligent rugby brains.

Bath could not match Gloucester's aggression and they had little leadership to give them direction behind the pack - Meehan will have to rectify this quickly or confidence will be lost.

What do you Bath supporters think?

I know it is early in the season but can Bath reproduce the performances of last season without Steve Borthwick and Barkley?

606: DEBATE Give your views here

I thought new second row signing Justin Harrison cruised through the game - is he past it?

Friday's contest between Sale and Saracens became a kicking contest between Charlie Hodgson and Luke McAlister of Sale versus Glen Jackson of Saracens.

Hodgson finally won the match with a drop-goal, albeit not the most sweetly struck, but although Sale's fans will not be too disappointed with a second victory, with all the talent the Sharks have they deserve more.

Jerry's column previewing last weekend's action

Although they were missing a handful of star players, London Irish nearly got a draw at Welford Road.

That would no doubt have embarrassed Leicester but it looks like the Tigers are still coming to terms with playing under their new coach, Heyneke Meyer, and learning to run off new fly-half, Toby Flood.

Despite that it was another win and they have started two for two.

I would be very interested to hear the opinions of Tigers supporters on the possibility of Rupeni Caucaunibuca joining their playing ranks.

606: DEBATE Give your views here

On past performances the Fijian winger is the most exciting player in world rugby and if Leicester take him on he will light up the Premiership.

Harlequins beat Bristol as expected, scoring five tries in the process, and once again Danny Care produced a good performance.

It was in front of newly appointed England attack coach, Brian Smith, which will certainly do him no harm in retaining the England number nine jersey.

For me Wasps and Northampton losing was a massive shock, so well done to the Worcester Warriors and Jonny Wilkinson.

I really should not have bet against Jonny making a huge impact for Newcastle but I thought even with his great ability Saints' charge would continue - it just goes to show the underdog is difficult to beat.

Never bet against Jonny Wilkinson - does the England 10 shirt beckon?

Wasps really only have themselves to blame for losing to Worcester.

Wasps are a better side and would win nine out of 10 encounters but I do not want to take anything away from Mike Ruddock's team and they deserved to win Sunday's game.

If a team makes as many errors as Wasps and still win, you put it down to a good team having that winning ability; if they lose making lots of mistakes then it gets put down to complacency - Ian McGeechan and Shaun Edwards have some hard work ahead.

The Warriors showed enough in last week's defeat at Saints to suggest they are not going to be in the relegation battle and they rubber stamped that with this victory.

But the final word has to go to a certain Newcastle fly-half.

It is good to see Jonny really performing well and given Danny Cipriani's injury and Charlie Hodgson playing OK, he is pushing hard to recapture his number 10 shirt for England.

Jeremy takes time out each week to answer a selection of questions from users on 606:

Hi Jeremy, where do you think Mathew Tait should play for England?

charlie-999

I really do think Tait's best position is outside centre. His pace will frighten defenders and it will also help in defence.

606: DEBATE Ask your questions here

Because of his pace he can line up close to his inside centres and take the head-on tackles with his partner; if they go wide his pace will get him in position quickly to take them down by the legs rather than go high and risk being handed off.

Jerry - how do you think you would have performed playing rugby league?

austin_healey_bald

That is a really difficult question to answer. Jonathan Davies has always said to me that I would have enjoyed the space playing league and he knows better than most.

Jeremy, what will Toby Booth bring to London Irish? Is our attacking flair going to suffer without Brian Smith?

lockupinthesky

Toby Booth has been an integral part of Irish development over the last few seasons and I would expect that to continue.

He will need to strengthen his front row to really have a crack at the top teams but outside that he has got some great talent to work with.

I believe Mike Catt can certainly continue where Brian Smith left off and probably develop the backline even more.