Mike Ruddock revealed he had learnt some valuable lessons about his players after celebrating a first victory as Warriors boss against Plymouth Albion.
A brace of tries from centre Gary Trueman and score from wing Marcel Garvey secured victory for Ruddock’s men at roasting hot Brickfields.
Warriors took control with a senior side for over an hour of the clash before being forced to endure a brave late fight-back from the pumped up home side.
But the visitors held firm to secure a confidence boosting pre-season result and leave Director of Rugby Ruddock to take the positives from the display.
“I was pleased to get a result because it was always going to be difficult against a settled and aggressive Plymouth Albion team,” said Ruddock.
“We achieved our objectives which were to firstly come to a hard place and get a result.
“We also wanted to try some new things that we have been working on in training and transfer them into a game situation.
“Finally, we also wanted to get all our options on the field and see what they could do. You learn a lot about players and how they can adapt in situations like that.
“There is still a lot of work to be done; the one thing we found was that all the changes caused us to lose continuity and cohesion. But it gives us something to work on as we now look ahead to London Irish.”
Ruddock also praised his young guns that held firm in a tense final 20 minutes after he had rung the changes and replaced the majority of his starting line-up.
“We were comfortable for an hour with a senior and settled side. And in fairness to the youngsters who came on they did well and defended superbly in the last few minutes to secure the win,” he added.
“What pleases you as a coaching team, more than anything, is when you see resolve not to lose a game. Our young players showed plenty of that at the end and that was fantastic to witness.”