Head Coach Richard Hill praised the confident manner in which his Worcester Warriors were playing as they swept aside Plymouth Albion 52-13 in pre-season encounter on Saturday evening.
Worcester turned on the attacking style in the friendly clash in Devon as wing wonder Marcel Garvey grabbed a stunning hat-trick in less than half an hour and Miles Benjamin (2), Tom Arscott, Jonny Arr and Chris Fortey also crossed the whitewash.
Warriors had been forced to dig deep and battle to a narrow victory when the teams last met in the second week of last season in the RFU Championship at Brickfields.
But less than 12 months on, Worcester produced a brutal display of attacking flair and defensive steel to back-up the victory over RaboDirect Melbourne Rebels to the delight of boss Hill ahead of the new campaign.
“We always looked comfortable and in control,” said Hill. “Our attack looks good and we have got far more attacking threats than we had before, more cutting edge and we look like we can score lots of tries.
“We look a much more all-round better side compared to last season. For me, the major difference from the first away game last year and this one today is the confidence in the team.
“You only have to talk to the players, when they go out on the field they feel comfortably in the structures and confident in each other, they trust each other. That is showing in the way we are playing.
“Sometimes you can have a good team but it doesn’t click because of that lack of confidence. If a team is full of confidence and knows it can play well when it goes out there then you see a difference.
“The players are going out with an air of confidence about them. Yes, we are making a few unforced errors but that will happen in pre-season.
“The way we prepare in the build-up to the game, you can just sense that the squad is full of confidence and at the moment that is reflected in the performances. That is hard to put your finger on, that is not easy to get, but it is happening.”
Hill was also pleased as a number of new signings turned in impressive displays and only heightened his selection headache for the opening weekend of the season. Ben Gulliver, Chris Jones, Sione Tu’ipulotu, Sam Betty and George Porter all started the game.
“Monday against Rebels set the standard and so the players had to perform well here,” he said.
“We know we have still got a lot of people yet to make a start, the likes of Chris Fortey, Tevita Taumoepeau, Joe Carlisle and Jonny Arr. There are still a lot of players desperate to show what they can do so there is more to come on Tuesday night against Argentina.
“It is looking increasingly difficult to select a team for September 3 against Sale because a lot of people are playing very well.
“Andy Short really impressed me today,” added Hill. “Marcel scored three tries, but Shorty created a lot of room for him.
“The other pleasing thing for me was that the ten people that came off the bench appeared to raise the tempo.
“On 60 minutes we put them on and we saw the ball start to fizz around. Sometimes when you put your replacements on, which is disappointing to see, it goes a bit disjointed.
“That is not happening, we looked well organised in defence when we had to and fluent in attack.
“I thought the likes of James Freeman also came on and did well in his 20 minutes, it is all looking good at the moment.”
Despite a eight-try victory, the Head Coach insisted there was still more to come and work to be done on the training field.
“It was disappointing to concede a late try – it will give Phil Larder something to work on,” concluded Hill.
“We were a little disappointed with that because it was a lapse in concentration and lack of trust. Alex Grove was going to make a tackle and a player stepped in to make a double tackle, which meant there was a free man outside.
“That is a little bit of trust. You trust Alex Grove to stay out and make the tackle, that wouldn’t have happened then. It was a genuine mistake in defence that has got to be ironed out, but we will pick that up next week and work on it.”