Ryan – We will continue to improve weekly

Director of Rugby Dean Ryan insists his side will keep improving after they were agonisingly denied victory in a close encounter with Biarritz Olympique at Sixways.

Warriors raced into a 12-0 lead thanks to tries from Dean Hammond and Alex Grove but the French outfit responded in the second period, and scored a try with the last play of the game to snatch victory.

Ryan said: “It was a great game that we should have edged. We’re just disappointed that we couldn’t close those last five minutes out. 

“Two or three sparkling moments isn’t enough so we have to keep challenging ourselves to get better. We need to keep being accountable for our actions and we will keep improving defensively.”

There were a number of fine individual performances in the Warriors side against Biarritz and the Director of Rugby was impressed with his side’s attacking display.

He added: “We were very good defensively last week against a top side and we were a significant threat in attack tonight. Some of our attacking game looked sharp and we caused problems.

“The challenge we faced in these two Amlin games was to try and grow a little bit.

“We wanted to make sure that we played in a manner that we felt we were starting to improve in and there were many elements of the Biarritz game I was quite pleased with.”

The former England number-eight sees the Amlin Challenge Cup as an opportunity to put things into place and help Warriors start firing in the Aviva Premiership.

He concluded: “We have to find combinations that work for us and ones that are improving so we can use them when we come back into the Premiership.

“The Amlin is a tournament we are desperate to be competitive in but also one that we want to grow in and we have to get that balance right.

“We did everything today in terms of growing we just didn’t get the win which would have been a huge confidence booster.”


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