New recruit Jon Clarke has revealed life has been a beach since he moved to Sixways after even hitting the sand in pre-season – and how he is relishing a new start and beginning at Worcester Warriors!
Hugely talented centre Clarke, who has played for England Saxons, made the switch to Worcester from Northampton Saints where he enjoyed a glittering playing career.
Clarke, born in Sheffield, played a total of 165 games for the Saints and scored 32 tries after starting at Franklin's Gardens in 2003 as part of the Saints Academy.
A switch to centre in 2005 saw his career hit new highs and in the 2009/10 season his nine tries in all competitions, the second highest tally in the squad, earned him a call from the England Saxons for their Six Nations games against Ireland and Italy.
However, this season he has opted for a fresh start and new beginning at Sixways and is enjoying every second of his new surroundings.
“It’s different to come to a new club with new people. It’s a different way of training too and it’s a case of buying into that as quickly as you can while remembering everyone’s name,” he said.
“We have completed the first phase of pre-season which was heavy conditioning, it was a good set of hard work and now it is time to build into the rugby element.
“The conditioners have had us doing hill sprints and we even ran up sand dunes in Hartlebury which was pretty ridiculous,” he laughed. “I didn’t realise there were sand dunes around Worcester so that was a pleasant surprise.
“All that stuff is tough work but in the end if helps you out as a player. It is a positive thing.
“It doesn’t matter how much you have played the year before, you have got to build up during the off season and into the games.
“I was fully fit come the end of last season and I have done plenty of training so picking it up in pre-season was never a problem.
“It’s all about buying in and adapting quickly. You want to fit in and get yourself in the mix by working as hard as you can.
“You have to get to a point when you are feeling comfortable in yourself and then you can look at the games and build up to the season and Bath.”
Clarke admits the fixture with away Northampton and his first return to Franklin’s Gardens in Round 4 has caught his eye.
But as he looks to make his mark at Sixways he is determined to look no forward than trying to get involved in the opening home fixtures with Bath Rugby and Gloucester Rugby.
He added: “Yes, I looked to see when we have Northampton, but we have two decent home games before that and we are looking forward to and it is a good chance to come away with some wins.
“Both teams are very good, we know what Bath and Gloucester are capable of, but it is down to us to build towards it and hopefully I will be involved.
“I want to show what I can do in the pre-season games, but there is some real competition here. You train as hard as you can and hopefully you get selected.”
Clarke has also enjoyed his early work with new Attack Coach Mathieu Rourre, with the Frenchman spending last week putting the Warriors through their paces on the training field.
“Mathieu (Rourre) has brought something new so he has been assertive and has let people know exactly what he wants,” admitted Clarke.
“We have worked on a few elements with him and he will come back and we will continue to develop our attack.
“It feels good to be here and I feel enthused by a new beginning,” he added. “We have a good set of lads at Warriors and the coaching staff is very talented.
“We have a handy indoor training facility when it tips it down, which it has done a fair bit of in pre-season, so we have been working hard.
“There is a nice feeling and momentum to pre-season, you can tell we are building towards the rugby and working hard to get it right. Now we just want some games to put all that hard graft to use.”
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