Ruddock eager for Friday night showdown

Mike Ruddock admits Warriors need to cut out the indiscipline as they prepare for the big Friday night showdown with London Irish at Sixways (kick-off 8pm).

Drew Hickey and Sam Tuitupou were both sin binned at The Stoop by referee Dave Pearson as Worcester lost 36-15 to Harlequins.

With a massive game with London Irish now on the horizon, Director of Rugby Ruddock knows the lessons of defeat need to be learnt fast. 


“We started with real impact and desire, we created chances and didn’t take them,” said Ruddock. “We had chances either side of half-time but we didn’t nail them down.


“We are paying for bad discipline and penalties – we are not getting the balance right. It is not happening at the moment and we need to stop giving away stupid penalties.


“We have to take confidence that we were close for such a long time. We tried to play catch up at the end and run from impossible positions, we leaked some points but I can forgive the team for that.


“The big moment was when we were close just after half-time and Drew Hickey made a break. We  didn’t score and we should have done. Then we had an overlap on the short side but our passing let us down.”


Ruddock is confident skipper Pat Sanderson will recover from a heavy knock on his arm but Netani Talei is ruled out of the Irish game with ligament damage.


“It’s all about next Friday now and Irish now,” he said. “Irish is massive. It has been close when we have played them recently. We have a short turnaround and have to get our preparation right and come out firing.”


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