Sanderson – Young stars shine bright

Captain Pat Sanderson has backed the talented crop of young stars at Worcester Warriors to continue to shine in 2009/10 – and hailed the Academy system at the club for the character of the players being produced.

Sanderson believes up and coming talent such as prop Matt Mullan, centre Alex Grove and back row duo James Collins and Tom Wood have the perfect environment to develop at thrive at Sixways Stadium.

The talented quartet are among a number of young aces who will feature for Warriors in two games that conclude the pre-season schedule this weekend against Ulster Rugby (Friday) and Droitwich (Saturday).

Worcester skipper Sanderson believes part of the key to success for the young players is the work rate and desire they have to improve.

“People like Tom, James, Alex, Matt and many more have come into the team and are now settled in the squad, now we will see the best of them,” said Sanderson.

“What is important is that we have the right sort of people with the right attitude coming through. They are hungry, hard working, hard-nosed and uncompromising.

“They are a big piece of the jigsaw and another year on they will only be better for Warriors.”

One player being tipped for another impressive season is centre Alex Grove, who has also broke into the Scotland senior set-up in the last 12 months.

But his development has come as no surprise to Sanderson and his team-mates at Warriors.

“People talk about how much of a surprise Alex Grove’s development has been – but that doesn’t surprise me at all,” added Sanderson.

“What people don’t see is how much work he puts in behind the scenes, how hard he works at his game. When these guys get an opportunity they take it – it doesn’t surprise me one bit. 

“Our Academy always consistently produces people like that, players who work hard at their game and when they get the breakthrough they don’t pass it up. If anything, with people like Alex Grove, you only see an increase in work rate.”


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