Brian Ashton Quotations

I am disappointed that James has decided to end his association with Bath Rugby and join London Irish, however I wish him well for the future.

I am delighted to see him back again. He's a creative player who will help the club move forward over the next few years.

I am delighted that Rob has decided to extend his contract with the club. He is a very experienced Guinness Premiership player, who has also played European and international rugby and we looking forward to him making a large contribution going forward.

I am delighted that Joe Maddock has extended his contract with Bath Rugby. He has played particularly well in the second half of the season in a number of positions and he is a back-three player who should add some excitement to our game next season.

Chris Goodman was a National Academy player and outstanding for someone in his position. He has already made a good contribution to Bath's first team when called upon. Chris is a real talent for the future.

Joe Maddock did a good job in the centre last week and he deserves to stay in the side.

I think the operation has been successful, so it is going to be two or three weeks before he is fit and available for selection.

There has been a transformation - you can feel it among the players - but I can hold my hand up and say that is not down to me coaching on the field. You'd be better off asking Michael Foley and Richard Graham about that because they have been in charge, not me.

We are sorry to be losing Matt for the rest of the season. We wish him a speedy recovery and hopefully he will be back in time for the start of the new season.

We lost direction for the first 10 minutes after half-time and let Bristol back into the game. To be fair to them, they took that opportunity and put us on the back foot.

The signs are that Ollie may be available for selection. But whether he plays or not we will have to see how things go during the week, and I would say that Matt Stevens is touch and go.

Presenting at the Vegas Venture Forum resulted in an invitation to present at the top private equity conference in my industry. This dramatically increased our visibility and helped us to raise the funds we were seeking.

Any semi-final is very important. There is a lot of personal and team pride at stake and it is a route into Europe. We are going into Wales to play a Welsh team, so there are lots of factors surrounding the game that make it a pretty exciting occasion. Everyone involved from this club is really looking forward to 5.15pm tomorrow.

This is desperately bas luck for a player who was in form. I feel he would have made the England twenty-two, if not the starting XV.

This is something that needs to be tried in the courts. This is a huge tragedy. The family continues to suffer, and they'll never recover. I couldn't even fathom the pain that they feel through this whole thing.

There will be no excuse for not playing rugby on a pitch as good as this one. Given the playing surface at the Recreation Ground, I am not sure whether there is greater pressure on us playing at home or away. We have a good record against French teams in the Heineken Cup, but the past is no guide to what will happen on Saturday. We are aware of the challenge which faces us.

There were some fantastic matches between the two sides in the late eighties and into the early nineties. Perhaps not so much with the first team as these tended to be second team matches played on a Friday night, but that did not stop the two sides from going at one another, and I expect that to be the main theme on Saturday evening. We will both have a go at one another within the spirit of the game.

It needs a strong leader at the top, not necessarily involved with coaching. Clive has done that job before and there's not the slightest doubt, if he wanted to do it again, that he has the capability. I think it is possible to revive the England side before the World Cup next year. The playing talent is there and more is coming through.

I'm not going to get involved in the contractual details. I don't want to do that. One of the reasons I came into the job was to get away from that sort of thing.

I'm disappointed because we put ourselves under a lot of pressure giving away too many penalties in the first half and failing to take our opportunities in the second.

I have no comment to make. I was watching the game up from the Gods.

In my opinion, we looked the more challenging side, but we made too many silly errors which gifted them soft points.

I feel I've got unfinished business at international level.