Steve Tandy’s men had lost three matches in-a-row before they shocked Bath at the Rec – but they failed to carry their rediscovered form back into the league. They produced an error-strewn display in the defeat at Edinburgh, but Ardron wants to show their credentials against title rivals Glasgow Warriors, Leinster and Munster.
He said: “This month was always going to be crucial and I think losing on Friday means that these next few games are more important than ever now, particularly playing the other teams up at the top of the league.
“It’s going to be a real battle between now and the end of the season and, for us, these next three weeks in particular. We need to perform better if we are going to not only stay where we are but start to separate ourselves, put some distance between us and fifth place. These next three games are going to be absolutely crucial.
“It all starts on Saturday and we’ve got to make sure we get our own things right. That’s not taking anything away from what Glasgow are going to bring to us, first things first the reality is we have to get ourselves sorted. If we don’t do that then we’ll be right up against it regardless of how Glasgow perform, and it could get ugly for us.
“At this stage of the season you want to have it in your own hands, you don’t want to lose control and be relying on other teams getting results for you. That’s where we are at the moment, we are in the play-off spots and we need to get the right performance level consistently if we are going to put ourselves in the best position going forward.”
