Ruddock – balance and consistency are key

Mike Ruddock has called for his side to remain focused for the Montauban trip tomorrow evening (Fri, Jan 11 – 6.30pm), and warned of the difficulty of getting a result in France.

Warriors will face an impressive Montauban side – in the top four of the French league – packed with talent including Worcester old boy Miguel Avramovic and Scotland’s most capped player of all time Scott Murray.

Director of Rugby Ruddock admits that the ball is in Warriors’ camp to progress to the next round, but without focus and committment, we could lose the all important home field advantage for the European Challenge Cup semi-final and a possible route into the Heineken Cup.

“We need to find the right balance and consistency for the team, hopefully get to the top of the pool and then make a conscious effort to stay at the top.

“If we stay in the top two seeds through the qualification pools, we potentially could have a home quarter and semi final, en route to the final,” he said.

“We are all out to secure the opportunity of getting a result in France.  Montauban are a difficult team, in the top four of the French league, and we need to pick a strong team to ensure we carry on getting improvements to our game.”

“We need to keep the standard going, after a good performance at Newcastle. By not dismantling the team, I am looking for a continuation of that performance. 

“It would be foolish not to take this opportunity, and we need to keep the winning trend going so we can finish as high up as possible,” he said.

“In the back of our minds we would love to get into the European Challenge Cup final, but Montauban is upper-most in our minds.  If Montauban beat Warriors they could get through, it’s a big game for them too.”


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