In this weeks edition of Carnegie Call Director of Rugby Stuart Lancaster looks ahead to his side's Guinness Premiership clash with Bath this Sunday at Headingley Carnegie, kick off 3pm.

HOW HAVE PREPARATIONS GONE THIS WEEK?

A Friday / Sunday turnaround has obvious advantages in terms of the amount of time we have to review a performance and prepare for the next opponents. One of the disadvantages however is that following a disappointing performance all the players are desperate to fix up some of the self imposed problems from the Sale game. From a coaching point of view, there has been plenty to reflect on. Obviously, the set piece didn't function as it has done in previous weeks, and the forwards have been working very hard to identify the problems and fixing them up. There are very few packs that go through a season undefeated however the key is the reaction from the players the following week.
Similarly our kicking game was not at the level required and we presented Sale too many opportunities to attack back at us when we needed to stop the game. Again work has been done in this area and we have turned in the feeling of frustration into a positive focus for Bath this weekend.

ARE YOU PLEASED WITH HOW YOUR SQUAD IS SHAPING UP AT THIS BUSY TIME OF THE SEASON?

Off the field there is a huge amount going on. I am constantly moving between the "small picture" i.e. the performance and planning for the next game, and the "bigger picture" as I look to develop and move the team forward to strengthen the squad on and off the field for the short, medium and long term.
As I have said all along we need to create a long term sustainable future and discussions are reaching the final stages on a variety of levels and positive news will be forthcoming in the next few weeks. Rest assured plenty of work is being done and I am encourage by the position we are in. This includes the "loaning" of a few of the younger players to clubs in the area. When I first went "fulltime" with the club back in 1999 in my role as player and Senior Development Office, Phil Davies and I worked on the District Development plan, with the idea of keeping Yorkshire players in Yorkshire, identifying local talent that hopefully will make it through to the top or if not would go back into the County game. The fruits of all this hard work is now starting to pay off and we have quite few of our younger players representing clubs such as Otley, Harrogate and Wharfedale.
One thing that we have had to consider is the registration deadline by the end of this month, so that if we would like some of our younger players to experience League rugby we need to register them before the end of the month otherwise it will not be allowed to happen, safe in the knowledge we can pull them back if we need to in March and April. We have done this with one or two to give us the flexibility and I will decide with the player and the Club when the best time for them to play in order to get the right competitive programme for their development and future.

HOW HIGHLY DO YOU RATE BATH?

We have a massive game against Bath on Sunday, they were outstanding against us at the Rec at Christmas, but I have called for a reaction from the players from Friday and I expect one! Changes will be made as I look to keep the squad fresh and hungry,  we have some quality players who are a little short of game time but are high on experience and they will provide a huge amount from the bench this week. We have picked up one or two injuries from the game and in the week, however regardless of these matters we need to deliver a quality performance and I fully expect this squad to do so.