Ryan – Exciting times ahead for Warriors

After already making no less than nine signings ahead of next season, Dean Ryan admits there are exciting times ahead at Warriors.

Harlequins winger Sam Smith is the latest player to sign on the dotted line for next season and the Director of Rugby insists business is still not finished.

He said: “Sam is playing top-end Premiership rugby and he has won titles with Quins so he is a great acquisition.

“You start to piece the backline together for next season and it looks pretty attractive. It’s English, it’s young and it’s desperate to prove a point, which is everything I wanted this club to be built on.

“When you look at that backline you can see significant growth. I’m really excited about the group that we’ve got coming together next season although there are still a few spaces left to fill.”

Despite building for the next campaign, the Warriors boss insists the club remain focused on trying to maintain Premiership status, starting against Sale Sharks at Sixways on Saturday (kick-off 2pm).

He admits: “Bringing in all these players is for next year so that’s something which is on the backburner as our energy is now going into fighting for survival.

“The Premiership is tough. We know home games are an advantage for us to have a crack at picking up some big wins.

“And we know that if we do have a decent crack, we can test anyone as we proved against Leicester.”

Saturday’s fixture will be the fifth time Warriors have met Sale this season and Ryan feels his side have come a long way since the first clash back in October.

He concludes: “The first match we played against them was probably our worst but every game in Sale we have played in tough circumstances and been quite competitive.

“We need to pick up a big result somewhere along the line. I think home games are crucial and consistency of performance around emotion are important for us to get those results.

“We will give Sale a rattle when they come here and see what happens.”


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