Head Coach Richard Hill has spoken about his Worcester Warriors are putting in the extra hours – both on and off the field – in a bid to achieve success in the Aviva Premiership.
The coaching team at Sixways have certainly been putting the players through their paces after another intensive week of training ahead of the top-flight clash with Saracens at Vicarage Road on Sunday (kick-off 2.15pm).
But away from the on-field preparations the Warriors are also putting in the extra hours as Hill revealed the levels to which his team are going as they look to gain an edge this season.
“We are in the top-flight and we need a Premiership attitude – the players have responded. Across the board they are working hard and studying the videos very carefully,” said Hill.
“We have to structure our attacking game very carefully according to each opponent in the Aviva Premiership and our defence has got to be sharper, in this league the attack play is excellent and you have got to be on it.
“Phil Larder is working around the clock to make sure he is covering all the gaps. I have also noticed, because we have gone up a notch, the players are far more keen to do their own analysis.
“I have been across to France to watch Toulouse play and their approach is to concentrate on their own game because they feel they will beat anyone. They don’t look at the opposition and, to a degree, if you have a squad like Toulouse you can do that.
“We can’t afford to do that. We have got to analyse the opposition very carefully. We have must a very clear attack and defence plan.”
One player who is certainly putting in extra homework is new signing Richard Muagututia and Hill has spoken for the first time about when he expects to see the Samoan international pull on a Worcester jersey.
“Richard has power and is one of these Samoans who just seems to have that, when he carries the ball he is going to take some stopping,” he said. “It’s important for the back row to have that explosive power and we need him to cause problems as people try to stop him.
“He has some work to do – to start with he has to learn the names of the players and all the calls. But he has two weeks to do that because we plan to put him in for the A team friendly game against Exeter at Sixways on September 26.
“He still has a huge amount of settling in to do. He has been living in Samoa so this is a new culture and it can be a difficult process for any player. Once he settles in we will see what an impact he can make.”