Hill – Players must adapt to surface quickly

Richard Hill believes his players must adapt to the Allianz Park surface quickly on Sunday if they are to beat Saracens for the second time this season.

Saracens moved to their new home in North London earlier this year and are the first Aviva Premiership team to play on an artificial 4G pitch.

And, according to Hill, Warriors must stamp out any early advantage the league leaders will have.

He said: “Other teams who have played at Allianz Park have said that for the first 15 minutes Saracens tend to dominate because they’re used to that surface and they don’t mind playing on it.

“But we’ve spoken about that during training this week and we can’t be tentative about going out there and playing our usual game.

“The players understand that their tackles need to be aggressive and low from the off and we must ignore the fact that it’s an artificial surface.”

Saracens have won all four of their games at Allianz Park since moving to their new home in January as Cardiff Blues, Exeter Chiefs, London Welsh and Harlequins were all comprehensively dispatched.

But, with dry weather forecast on Sunday, the Warriors Head Coach believes the pitch will suit his side’s style of play.

He added: “It will be fast and furious and the ball will be pinging around everywhere and that will suit us because that’s the sort of game we like to play. We prefer to have a hard pitch like that than a soft one.

“Players can stay on their feet, the ball stays alive a lot more and the play is improved dramatically.

“It will be a dry pitch, good conditions under foot and there will be fewer mistakes so you need to have a very fit squad. It will be a big challenge against a very good team.”


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