Head Coach Richard Hill has urged his Worcester Warriors to relax and play with freedom to show their true potential – insisting it is only a matter of time before fans witness a blistering performance.
Hill and his squad travel to Clifton Lane and Rotherham Titans this Saturday afternoon (kick-off 2pm) with the Head Coach admitting his team are yet to peak despite sitting at the top of the RFU Championship.
However, he revealed how training sessions at Sixways have become even more brutal as the squad works as hard as ever before to really hit their straps before the play-offs in March.
“I want our players to relax and go out and play like they can. We have had a fantastic week of training and on Monday we had a full on 15 versus 15 and it was brutal,” he said.
“I got the players around at the end of the session and I didn’t have to tell them, they knew that they have got to transfer that level of aggression and intensity onto a match day and they will begin to make these wins more comfortable and we will batter the opposition.
“I know they can do it, I am not concerned at all, we have the physicality, the ability and it is question of getting it right over the next few weeks.
“I am confident that the supporters will arrive at some stage and see an absolutely blistering performance.
“We have had a good chat after the weekend game with Plymouth,” he added. “We had a patch of 20 minutes but the rest wasn’t up to the standard we require. We will get it right.
“It is frustrating that we haven’t put together a full 80-minute performance, but we did say it would take quite a while before the players get used to Phil Davies and myself, what we are asking them to do.
“We are winning – you can’t lose sight of that – so we are doing what we need to at the moment. There is a huge amount of work going on that will come to fruition– I have no doubt about that. When it clicks it will click really well.”
Meanwhile, Hill has reinforced his desire to continue to give players ‘mini trials’ to impress in the coming weeks before unleashing what he feels is his best team against Moseley Rugby on Boxing Day.
“Other clubs in this competition have a top 15 players and will play them week in and week out,” said Hill. “We have got 33 fit players at the moment and all could genuinely stake a claim – I have to give them a fair chance.
“We have six matches coming up, with Rotherham, Esher, Doncaster, a couple of Warriors A games and Newport in the British & Irish Cup. I will be giving people the opportunity. We have had a chat and I have explained it, now it is up to them to take that.
“I will rotate and just before the Christmas period, in particular Moseley on Boxing Day, we will begin to keep a consistent selection.
“This is probably the last six matches where Worcester supporters will see such a different side every week. They are like mini trials for players, an opportunity to see that they are really like, how they mentally prepare for a game and physically how they handle it.
“We have got to get to a stage where we can pick our best 22 leading into the Christmas period.
“Yes, it is frustrating at times because you are not always going to get consistency of performance when you chop and change selection – that is obvious. But it is serving a purpose. Giving people game time and rest time, plus the chance to look at every player, so that by December 26 we will be absolutely certain what our best 22 is.”