We must take the positives and fight on – Brain

John Brain and skipper Pat Sanderson joined forces to insist Warriors would take the positives and continue to battle after narrow defeat at Bristol.

Worcester had taken a half-time lead at the Memorial Stadium after tries from Mark Tucker and Thinus Delport had left the home side stunned.
Bristol fought back in the second half to claim victory and leave Warriors forced to settle for a losing bonus point as the battle to avoid bottom spot in the Guinness Premiership heats up.
Director of Rugby Brain was left disappointed at the result but pointed to the encouraging signs to come out of the clash and looked ahead to the final two games away at London Irish and home to Saracens.
“I thought when we kept the ball moving we had our best chance of success, when we put any sort of pace into our game and played we caused them problems and moved them around,” said Brain.
“That is how we scored two tries, although the second effort was obviously also a very good individual effort by Thinus.
“We just failed to do that in the second half. We had good position right at the start of the second half and failed to win a scrum on our own ball and then spent quite a period defending and took points.
“But there were a lot of positives and we are not that far away, we can go to London Irish next week and know we will be in the mix, know that we will have a competitive chance of winning that game.”
Sanderson returned after missing the games with Sale Sharks and Newcastle Falcons with a broken hand.
And, despite his disappointment at the final result, took heart from the display and remained upbeat about the remaining two games of the campaign.
“It could have gone another way for us but we still played some good rugby,” said Sanderson.
“We will take the positives from that performance and continue to look forward. We can’t afford to dwell on what the result was and what might have been.
“We have lost a tight game but it was not a car crash for us. We’ve got two games to go and do the best we can and keep fighting, that is exactly what we will do.”
“A bounce of the ball different at the end and Thinus could have had a second and it could have been different. But we have got to leave that behind now and move onto London Irish, we won’t let it play in our minds.”
Bristol boss Richard Hill praised Worcester for their defence and battling qualities throughout the afternoon. And he admitted the try by Delport in first-half injury time, that put Warriors ahead, had rocked his outfit.
“We played some of the best rugby we can, but credit to Worcester for not letting go at any point,” he said.
“It was a shock to the system to be losing at half-time, that rocked us badly, but you have to say they were two excellent tries by Worcester.
“We controlled the second half but Worcester defended exceptionally well under huge pressure.
“Our front five gave us a platform in the game and our set piece was good. But the last few minutes they made life uncomfortable for us.”


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