Warriors’ oh-so nearly performance at Wasps has added to director of rugby John Brain’s growing conviction that his side will battle their way off the bottom of the Guinness Premiership table.
Wasps’ director of rugby Ian McGeechan admitted afterwards that his side had been forced to play “the Worcester way”, rather than imposing their own pace and style on the game, in order to avoid a shock home defeat.
Brain would have readily traded the compliment for four points. Instead, Warriors drove away from Adams Park with just a losing bonus point to mark a display that turned many heads.
“I was a game we could have won,” he said. “The key period was the 10 minutes after half-time. We conceded all the good work we’d done through one turnover, they kept the ball and scored.
“I honestly think we’re playing better than we have for a long time,” he added. “One or two of their players said that was the most difficult game they’ve had this year. I don’t believe we’re anywhere near the worst team in this league. We’re only going to get better. We’re not going to fragment. We’re going to get tighter.”
He nodded towards Warriors’ Adams Park dressing room and described the mood among the players as “upbeat” though disappointed.
“There’s a lot of positives in it for us,” he went on. “We scrummaged well and I thought we had the upper hand right through the game.
“When you’re in the situation that we’re in, the only people who can do anything about it are the guys down the corridor. We know exactly what we have to do. We feel we’re doing a pretty good job at the moment. We’ve just got to keep going. I think we can get off the bottom.”
His attention now turns towards Saturday’s crucial ERC Challenge Cup Pool 5 match against ASM Clermont-Auvergne, at Sixways, where a victory wouldn’t just boost Warriors’ chances of a quarter-final berth but restore the home winning habit ahead of Wasps’ visit on Friday, January 26.
“Clermont’s a big game. We’d really like to get our home form on track.”