Director of Rugby Alan Solomons spoke to the media today ahead of Saturday’s European Challenge Cup match against Dragons at Sixways (kick-off 3.00pm).
Here’s what Alan had to say:
On the win over Sale Sharks
- It was a massive win for us and four invaluable points.
- We struggled to get any ascendancy in the first half because we turned over possession 12 times and we then gave away an interception try.
- But we played intelligently when they went down to 14 men, we secured possession and dominated territory. We also reduced our error count.
- We scored two tries, had one disallowed and had another opportunity with a kick down the right hand corner where the decision was to award them a penalty
On facing Dragons
- They are a tough outfit and are particularly tough at Rodney Parade. They are very gritty and they some good players so they will be tough fixtures.
- The players who will play on Saturday will enjoy playing here at Sixways in front of our home crowd.
Are you likely to rotate your squad?
- The Sale match was a very physical one so there will be a rotation of players this week.
- On re-signing Francois Venter and Nick Schonert
- Francois is an outstanding player. He has got international experience, he’s a hard, physical player with a good skill-set, a good bloke a good team man.
- Sharky has become one of the pre-eminent tightheads in the Premiership and he has come close to selection for England on several occasions.
Injuries
- Francois Venter rolled an ankle late in the first half against Sale. He will have scans later this week.
- Caleb Montgomery has had surgery on a wrist injury and will be out of action for around 12 weeks from the time of the operation.