Centre star Alex Grove insists Worcester Warriors are still ‘in the mix’ for the British & Irish Cup as the club prepares to face Plymouth Albion in the competition at Sixways Stadium this Saturday (kick-off 3pm).
Grove made his return to competitive action for Worcester, after his return from a loan north of the border, as Warriors suffered a 38-23 defeat to Leinster on Sunday afternoon in Dublin.
However, the Scotland international knows victory over Plymouth Albion this weekend would reignite the cup bid as Warriors look to chase down Pool A leaders Cornish Pirates and second placed Leinster.
“We are not out of the competition by any means after what happened in Ireland – we are well in the mix. We have a couple of games to go at Sixways and also the rearranged Currie game in Scotland so plenty to target,” said Grove.
“We have now got a week building up to the Plymouth Albion game at home and I can imagine it will be much the same squad eager to make amends. We will have the home fans behind us and we will be better against Albion to keep ourselves in the competition.
“On a personal level, I can’t wait to get back out there. It is always special to play at Sixways for me and we will use that to our advantage,” he added.
“It was great to be back with the boys and playing for Worcester again, but we went to Ireland to win and having lost it is disappointment I feel about my comeback game
“I made a couple of errors against Leinster when I was probably trying a bit too hard. But, on the whole, I set myself a few goals in my first game back and doing what I do well.
“I believe my tackling and my handling skills were good and I was trying to put people into space. I was pleased with how I played. Now I will build on that and be better next week against Plymouth.”
Individual errors proved costly to Warriors in Ireland and Head of Skill Development and Academy Manager Andrew Stanley is keen for the squad rectify that on home soil.
Grove is also adamant the team can returning to winning ways if they produce the form that saw them blitz Leinster with two quick-fire tries before the break at Donnybrook.
“We certainly had the strength in the squad to go over to Dublin and do a job, but individual errors across the board, myself included, meant we let ourselves down and put pressure on ourselves when we didn’t need to,” added Grove.
“In the spell before half-time everyone did their jobs well and we scored two quick tries. We all executed our parts in the plays, whether that was the lineout, backs move or the clearout out wide. Everyone did their jobs and we came away with a score after three or four phases.
“We came in at half-time and wanted more of the same. We knew if we did our roles the scores would come. Three points, five or seven, they would have come so it was disappointing we couldn’t continue that momentum and let them back in with some easy points. Now we have to regroup against Plymouth.”
Watch Alex Grove in his return to Sixways this Saturday afternoon. Tickets for the British & Irish Cup game between Warriors and Plymouth Albion are on sale now from the Warriors Box Office on 01905 454183 or by clicking online at www.warriors.co.uk