Head Coach Richard Hill admitted he was satisfied with his first game in charge as Warriors opened pre-season with a 55-0 thumping of Stourbridge Saxons – but urged his squad to continue to improve in upcoming warm-up games.
Warriors ran in nine tries to overcome a battling Saxons side with Alex Crockett, Rob Higgitt and Tom Arscott all among the scorers on debut.
Hill was delighted with the manner in which his new-look side looked to play attacking running rugby in difficult conditions as heavy rain lashed Sixways.
However, he insisted more work was yet to be done as the Warriors look ahead to the visit of Newport Gwent Dragons on Tuesday night (kick-off 7.30pm).
“I was pleased and there were a lot of good things about our game,” said Hill.
“The most important thing for me was to look at the shape of the game. To see if the players look like they have run out of ideas and nobody knows what they are doing, that can happen from time to time in pre-season games.
“But there were not many occasions when the ball carrier did not have an option. The set piece was good, as you would expect, the scrum and lineout were strong and restart retention was good. Craig Gillies had a huge amount of ball which was pleasing to see.
“We were looking to see if some of the things we have been working on in training were transferred into the game.
“We looked at our line speed in press defence and, although Stourbridge didn’t have a lot of ball, the evidence was there that we were quick off the mark. It’s hard work and that was our first match playing a press defence so I was pretty pleased with that.
“We have done a lot of work at the breakdown to ensure the support player is in quick and again that was a good transfer. We also had a willingness to play with ball in hand.
“But it was still not perfect, we kicked a bit too much ball away and one or two players have a habit of kicking for no real reason so I will look at that.
“The second area was our discipline when we were defending in the tackle. We did not release the man, under the new law you have got to get away and had it been a competitive league game we could have lost one or two through repetitive offences so we have got to sort that out.”
Hill selected six new signings in his starting line-up and revealed how pleased he was with how quickly they settled into the team.
He added: “I picked the starting 15 based on those that had completed the vast majority of pre-season and were the best prepared.
“It was good to see so many new players out there and on the scoresheet. Oriol Ripol did not get a try but he did enough there for the crowd to see that he has a real determination and wants to do well for the club.
“All the new players, in their own way, made an impression and it’s important they put a Worcester shirt on for the first time and score to lift the confidence.
“The forwards provided the platform and the backs, with the new signings, got on the score sheet with Tom, Alex and Rob all getting over.
“We finished off most of the chances, although we were perhaps a little sloppy on occasions and threw a few loose passes around. But it’s the first game so I can excuse that for now.”