Hogg hails team togetherness after 100 per cent Cup record

Head Coach Carl Hogg hailed his young Warriors side after they made it a 100 per cent record in the B&I Cup with a 39-0 victory at Moseley.

Mat Gilbert, Tiff Eden and Perry Humphreys all notched their first Warriors tries along with scores for Max Stelling and James Stephenson.

But despite the success in attack, Hogg praised the second-half defensive display of the side which kept a clean sheet.

He said: “As a group we’re delighted because that’s now three out of three in the B&I Cup and that was a tricky challenge that we came through with flying colours.

“The whole group have grown immensely. You saw the unity of the side over the last 30 minutes where they had to defend stoutly and despite being 32 points ahead, they showed huge togetherness to defend the line.

“That desire and will to put in tackles and keep them out was fantastic.”

And Hogg was also quick to pay tribute to the nifty work of the young Warriors backline.

He continued: “It was a difficult task to come here. It was a real contest for 20-30 minutes but in the ten minutes before half-time our execution was fantastic.

“We had a little bit of width and pace on the ball and they struggled to live with it.”

Ryan Mills impressed on his debut after finally returning from an injury lay-off and Hogg praised the centre’s efforts.

He stated:  “It’s great to see him back on the field. He is a class act. It’s great to get him through that first period of rugby.

“You can see the talent he possesses and now we will manage him over the next few weeks so he gets the best chance to recover properly and we’ll take him forward from there.”

Tiff Eden again impressed at fly-half, notching 19 points in total that included four conversions, two penalties and a quick tap-and-go try.

And Hogg admits the 20-year-old is developing every time he is given an opportunity in the blue and gold of the Warriors jersey.

He added: “Tiff is coming on leaps and bounds and that’s the confidence of playing games. Young players need to play at a challenging level and the programme that’s been rolled out for the B&I Cup and A League fixtures is the ideal opportunity.

“We see them going into different challenges every week and they’re finding solutions.

“The way these youngsters have played, the way they’ve conducted themselves and the spirit they’ve generated within this group is all credit to Mefin Davies, Sam Vesty and some of the senior players in this group.

“Everybody who’s playing in the Championship will be looking over their shoulder.”
 


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