Head Coach Richard Hill believes his Warriors are ready for ‘D-Day’ as they prepare to face Bristol Rugby in the RFU Championship play-offs – and urged his squad to play with freedom and confidence in the next six pool games.
Worcester finished top of the table during the regular season, but must now start again as they battle with London Welsh, Nottingham Rugby and Bristol Rugby for a top two spot in Pool A to guarantee a semi-final berth.
Hill acknowledges he has been waiting for this weekend ever since his arrival at Sixways and his team must perform at their best at the Memorial Stadium.
And he insists the best way to get off to a strong start will be for Warriors to adopt a confident approach and not let nerves or the pressure get to them.
He said: “It’s the long awaited crunch and is D-Day for us. We have been waiting nine months of this and we said at the start that our season would be defined, if all went well and we got to the final, by nine matches.
“This date has been in our diary for a very long time and we are glad that is now finally here.
“It has gradually become clearly with consistent selection the team we would pick. It would be unfair to say, though, there are 15 players who have cemented their place.
“I have no intention, at this stage, to keep the same 15 no matter what for the remaining five games. We will go for a big powerful pack for this week, but that may vary for London Welsh the week after.
“Bristol have hit some form and the British & Irish Cup has given them real confidence. Much depends how they play on a one-off day.
“Six big games on the trot is a real test on your resources, training, concentration levels and conditioning.
“All teams now start virtually from scratch, every game is looking forward to this first weekend and everyone thinks they have a chance to get into the Premiership.”
In terms of the style of play he wants his team to produce, Hill added: “We have to play as we have done the last couple of weeks.
“The tactic we used against the Pirates in the second half, when we closed the game down and Andy Goode, Joe Carlisle and Jonny Arr were putting the ball into the corner, we will do in a state of emergency and if we are points behind. If we need to close the game down or claw back some points.
“We have to express ourselves and we have the safety of a Chris Pennell boot or an Andy Goode boot, this side is good enough going forward to keep the ball in hand.
“We will try to keep scoring tries, but the beauty of this squad is if we need to put a clamp on the game and take the game by the scruff of the neck and use the forwards then we will do that. But that is Plan B.”