In his exclusive Daily Echo column, British America's Cup yachtsman (and passionate Saints fan) James Stagg looks back at GBR Challenge's performance in the first of the Round Robins in the Louis Vuitton Challenger finals in Auckland. How does he think they did, what does he think of his rivals and what is the mood in the British camp?

WE MAY have lost our round robin 1 race against Stars and Stripes. But it was close and - like many of the crew - I went home with a little more confidence.

It was a good draw for us. Since they had refused to train with any other syndicate, we knew very little about them.

We did know they would be well organised, had heaps of experience and have a good sail programme.

Going into the race, I pretty much assumed it to be a very good pointer as to where GBR Challenge sat. If the big four syndicates were to live up to expectations, we had to be competitive with Stars and Stripes and the Victory Challenge otherwise the event would pass us by all too quickly.

As a Saints fan, I viewed our first match-up with the Americans as a six-pointer first match of the season. Needless to say we lost!

However, despite two gear failures, we had made a very close race of it and sailed well.

Next up was One World. They thumped us and we did not do ourselves any favours in the process.

We won our first point against the French (Areva) and again we had our fair share of self-induced problems.

We started the race one penalty down for entering the start sequence late and were missing the bottom batten in our mainsail. We off-loaded our penalty at the top mark and in the process managed to stick a penalty on the French.

We followed them around the track for the remainder of the race and they were unable to complete their penalty on the finish line.

We must have looked a shambles going into that race but, once we had started, we settled immediately and sailed another tidy race.

We had our first point on the board but knew we could - and had to - win more convincingly.

Next up was Alinghi and then Prada. Despite a few close moments with both, we lost.

In the Prada match, particularly, we felt the crew had put in another strong showing but that was not reflected in the scoreboard, which showed us with one win and four defeats.

We needed to win our next race against Victory Challenge. They were on three wins though, as far as we were concerned, they had already sailed their 'softer' matches - but they had claimed the scalp of Stars and Stripes.

A good start and tactics from the after guard led to a nice win which brought significant relief.

Against Oracle, we were strong throughout the boat and won a surprise victory but, as a crew, sailed no better than before.

The final match was with Mascalzone Latino, a re-sail due to the abandonment of our first meeting when they were leading. Despite us losing control of our spinnaker at one of the drops and having to cut it away, we won the point - but were aware how we could have so easily lost it.

How do we rate our chances against the rest?

One World were unbeaten and look very strong, having put all their legal problems behind them. I feel that they have been sailing their boats for a while now and am hopeful that they have reached the point where they will struggle to get much more out of them.

Alinghi lost only once (to One World) and although they, too, have sailed their boat for a while, I think they have more in reserve. The one race they lost was down to a pre-start error, leaving them a long way behind, but they closed the gap to ten seconds.

Murray Jones is still injured and has not sailed all the round robin and Russell Coutts has warned that they are still to sail with their strongest crew combination.

Oracle are on five wins and the talk is that they are sticky in the light-to-medium airs, so it will be interesting to see how they go in the next round - but they can not be written off.

For such a strong team, Prada have definitely under performed, but have now sent their second boat to Cookson boat builders for a bit of a facelift. Like Oracle, they have taken a grilling from the press on their speed but this should be taken with a pinch of salt because they have a very strong sailing squad and I think they will pull through.

The Victory Challenge ended with five straight losses and, as pleased as I am about this, I think they have two very competitive boats and are on the pace.

Mascalzone Latino and the French team Areva are at the bottom of the table. The Italians won in their match against each other but I think the French have let themselves down and could do better in the next round.

So what about GBR Challenge? It is fair to say we have had our self confidence reinforced in that we can go out and compete and not feel intimidated by the big teams.

Our win over Oracle was a good one to have in the bank but to make it count we have to carry on winning points. We have a number of things to improve on and will work on these.

As technical as the America's Cup is and at times as hard as it is to understand there is one simple fact - if you don't win races, you get sent home early.

How did we feel after Round Robin 1?

Round Robin 1 must have been the longest two weeks of my life but, after our eight races, we ended with four wins and four losses and found ourselves tied in fourth place.

Two months ago, if someone were to say we would be in this position, we would have been pretty happy.

No. Very happy.