Jonny Arr believes the best is yet to come as he returns to full fitness following a lengthy injury lay-off.
The scrum-half hasn’t played since undergoing knee surgery back in January but the long-serving Warrior admits sitting out the final few games of the 2015/16 campaign have helped him in the long-run.
Arr said: “Given the timing of the games at the end of last season there was no need to rush coming back.
“Our medical and strength and conditioning team have been spot on in making sure I can come back in better shape than ever.”
Through the early stages of Arr’s rehabilitation, he spent plenty of time alongside Tom Biggs, who was also nursing an injury.
Arr also took a relaxing break out in Texas, USA, catching up with a former Warrior.
He revealed: “Myself and Biggsy were training partners as both of us were injured. He’s a good bloke and very good for morale so he kept me going during a tough time!
“It can be difficult not being able to play for a long time but it was great to then go and catch up with Jake again and have some time off to clear my head.
“I went through a phase of having drum lessons too which helped me out.”
Since returning to Sixways for pre-season, the players have been trying their hand at some wrestling.
And 28-year-old Arr admits it hasn’t been the easiest of tasks.
He explained: “Wrestling is pretty tough. So far I’ve had eight fights and no wins, so I have plenty to work on!
“I came up against Biggsy a few times and he’s pretty strong for his size. Sam Smith seems to gain some sort of super strength through his beard and Luke Baldwin is useful too!”
Arr, who has racked up 177 appearances for the Club, is now setting his sights on a return to action ahead of the new campaign.
But despite himself, Francois Hougaard and Luke Baldwin all gunning for the number nine jersey, Arr believes the trio will thrive off the competition and drive standards across the board.
He continued: “It’s going to be pretty tough with lots of competition at scrum-half. Francois came in last season and had a huge impact while Luke also took his chances.
“But I’ll keep training hard and hopefully we can all drive each other to become better.”
Warriors open up the 2016/17 season with another trip to Twickenham to face Saracens and Arr hopes his side can go one better this year after a tough day out at English Rugby’s HQ last November.
He added: “It was fantastic to see so many Warriors fans down there last year. We played a quality Saracens side but unfortunately came up short.
“It’s a big start up against the double winners and you couldn’t ask for a tougher test. We want to get a good pre-season under our belts and we’ll be raring to go.”
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