Richard Hill has revealed that versatile back Tom Arscott will take the full back jersey for the league clash at Nottingham Rugby – and warned the Warriors that they cannot keep giving teams big leads after the first half show at Pirates.
Worcester travel to Meadow Lane for the televised RFU Championship encounter on Sunday (kick-off 5.30pm) eager to build on a dramatic victory in Cornwall last weekend that saw them secure top spot.
Hill admits he has made his squad analyse the first half show in Penzance in huge detail – and not even looked at the second half when Worcester produced a stunning comeback.
And he will make a selection of changes with ‘highly-motivated’ Arscott recalled to replace Joe Carlisle and stake his claim ahead of the play-offs in March.
“Tom has thought long and hard about the way he approaches the game,” revealed Hill, who is also set to hand a start to prop Bruce Douglas.
“Now he has got that little bit of aggression back and is highly-motivated. He’ll be the right choice at full-back on Sunday.
“I think, to be fair to Joe, I won’t put him at full-back again. He’s a very good 10 and I’ve wanted to put him in the team because he’s a good player and deserves to be in, but clearly full-back is not his best position.
“But at least I’ve been able to keep him playing because, with Andy Goode at 10, you don’t want Joe just sat on the bench.
“It was a good win at Pirates and we were pleased to get the result,” added Hill. “But there was enough that went wrong in that 20 minute period before half-time to be concerned about.
“The first 20 minutes we controlled and the last 40 minutes they didn’t see the ball, but for that 20-minute spell they had a purple patch and scored three tries.
“We haven’t looked at the second half this week – we have just reviewed the first half. It needed to be pointed out to the players and we went through the clips for the first 20 minutes and then showed the second 20 minutes. What we did was tactical suicide.
“The players were delighted to have won, but can’t give teams a start. Come the play-offs, if we go 25-7 down I can’t believe we will come back like that in a game when the opposition will really sense blood.”
Meanwhile, prop Matt Mullan and full-back Chris Pennell both took part in full-contact training sessions on Wednesday and Mullan is pencilled in to start Tuesday’s re-arranged British & Irish Cup match at Currie.
Supporters are advised that the RFU Championship clash between Nottingham Rugby and Worcester Warriors this Sunday will kick-off at 5.30pm and NOT 5.45pm as previously advertised.