Wing Drauniniu targets derby day victory

Josh Drauniniu has challenged his side to secure a derby day victory when Warriors travel to Gloucester next Friday.

Warriors missed out on their first Aviva Premiership win of 2013 against Northampton today and the wing admits focus will instantly turn to next Friday’s clash.

He said: “Next week is a big derby. It’s always tough to go down to Gloucester. They’re a great team but so are we.
“Anything can happen in derbies and they’re big rivals so it is a game we will all be looking forward to.”

The wing was one of Warriors’ brightest sparks against Northampton and looked threatening down the right on a number of occasions.

And Drauniniu believes his side are close to becoming a potent attacking threat with ball in hand.

He continued: “It’s pretty disappointing to lose but at times we performed very well as a team.

“In the first-half we did well and Errie, Percy and Goodey were fantastic for us. And we believe that when we play as a team we can go forward and score tries.

“But when we get breaks and enter the opposition’s 22, we need to finish them off.”

Northampton secured victory with a penalty try in the closing stages as a forward pack containing England’s Dylan Hartley and Courtney Lawes were about to drive over.

“In the second-half their powerful forwards, who are world class, came in and did the work instead of swinging the ball out wide,” Drauniniu added.

“There were bits of it we could handle and our forwards did well today and worked their hearts out. Next time around they’ll stand up and be counted as they always do and we’ll do all we can to get a win.”


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