Ruddock urges Warriors to build on first win

Mike Ruddock urged Warriors to use the victory over Bristol as a springboard for the rest of the season as a first win of the season was secured in the Guinness Premiership at Sixways Stadium.

Director of Rugby Ruddock watched on in delight as Pat Sanderson, Greg Rawlinson and Dale Rasmussen smashed over for second half tries as Warriors secured a 25-5 victory.

The win saw Worcester move away from the foot of the table going into a break from action for two weeks.


But Ruddock insisted he was looking upwards and called on Warriors to now build on the win in the second half of the campaign.


“We are disappointed it has taken us so long but hopefully that is a sign of things to come,” he said.


“We have been showing progress for quite a while now. We built up momentum in Europe and today transferred that into the domestic league.


“This team has been going through a period of transition and we still made hard work of it against Bristol and missed some kicks. We should have been winning at the interval.


“But there were a lot of good things about us. We were physical, particularly in the second half.


“Bristol came into the game on the back of two hard Heineken Cup games and maybe that showed. But we were ruthless in the second half and deserved what we got from the game.”


Warriors dominated up front and caused huge problems to the Bristol lineout to the delight of Ruddock.


“We did our homework on the lineout, we watched them against Cardiff Blues and it was a key part of our strategy and we put them under pressure,” he added.


“Today we got some reward for the improvements we have been making. We should have won up at Newcastle Falcons and hopefully this is just the start of things to come.


“We have put the wait for a first win to bed but we are not getting carried away. However, hopefully we are now starting to see a team that we can take forward and make strides with and the boys are delighted in the dressing room.”


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