Hill frustrated by loose home display

Head Coach Richard Hill ordered his Worcester Warriors to start raising expectations after the manner of victory over struggling Esher Rugby at ice cold Sixways.

Worcester scored five tries in the RFU Championship clash to claim a 36-7 bonus point victory and cement top spot in the league table.

However, Hill was left frustrated by the display that saw Warriors score two early tries before failing to capitalise on dominating possession and territory for long periods.

“We still haven’t produced a really decent home performance and that was our challenge and our aim so I am disappointed,” said Hill.

“We got the five tries, but we were such a far superior team to Esher that it should have been a huge scoreline.

“It was 12-0 early on and then the next 30 minutes we complicated things and didn’t press on. We should have got another three or four at least in the first half to give us a really good cushion.

“I was angry at half-time that we could turn it on for 10 minutes and then rest for 30 minutes. It’s not good enough because we have got to try and keep that concentration for longer.

“Players were throwing balls around and it was like watching the Barbarians because we were loose. We wanted to get the four tries as soon as possible to get the bonus point, but you have got to be clinical and that means being simple and direct. It would have come easily then.

“We tried to make life very difficult for ourselves and the ball was being thrown around all over the place, which is certainly not what we do in training and not what we set out to do leading into the game.

“A win is a win but they are going to have another roasting again next week,” added Hill. “We will be outside – no matter what the temperatures is next week – and we will be putting some hard work in.

“We will repeat the same messages over and over again to get this right. I want expectations raised.

“There is a tendency to say that it was a win so it is ok – for me it is not. It should have been a 50 or 60 pointer.

“We should have been clinical, get into the 22 and score. Don’t mess around and don’t be satisfied with making a small error towards the end.

“We have got to be clinical because when we come to the play offs every single chance is going to be vital. If people squander that and think ‘well it doesn’t matter’ that is wrong. It does matter.

“This week we will be making sure that everything we do is really clinical and we punish all unforced errors, we are going to have to be hard on them.”

Hill also vented his anger that the clean sheet was lost in the dying seconds as Esher crossed for a consolation try.

He added: “The try at the end of the game we conceded irritated me immensely as we have got to keep our line clear.

“It came from us kicking the ball away in attack which we shouldn’t have done, it gave them a chance to counter. It was sloppy play. I was disappointed because we should not concede a try to Esher at home.

“There were some good performances, I thought Pat Sanderson was good and Chris Fortey is playing some of the best rugby I have seen him play. Matt Kvesic also did well so it wasn’t all bad. But it was too loose.

“We started well and went 12-0, but then we switched off and everyone thought they could be the one who scores a wonder try.

“We have got to really get our act together. We have Doncaster next week and they are three times the side that Esher are. It is going to be a tough test up in frozen north.”


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