Press Conference Notes
Director of Rugby Alan Solomons spoke to the media today ahead of Warriors’ Aviva Premiership trip to Exeter Chiefs on Saturday at Sandy Park (kick-off 2pm).
Here’s what he said:
Anglo-Welsh Cup and young players
- The game against Dragons could have gone either way. There were a lot of positives to take from the game with players such as Andrew Kitchener and Tom Dodd impressing, and also schoolboy Ollie Lawrence.
- We’ve got some really good youngsters and you can see that from our representation at England age-grade level, and we have to give those youngsters opportunities.
- It was also good to get Anton Bresler some gametime and Nick Schonert looked good after returning from injury.
Luke Baldwin
- Luke played well on Friday night. He is a bouncy, lively character and a great person around the squad. He is a decent player.
Exeter Chiefs
- Exeter are an outstanding club. We have a massive challenge at the weekend.
- They are a side built on solid foundations and Rob Baxter is an excellent coach.
- They are a model club, they are efficient and well-drilled.
Upcoming block of Premiership games
- The whole squad have played over the last few weeks and now we have a key block of games coming up.
- It was important a lot of players had some gametime as we haven’t had any A League fixtures and we don’t have any now till March.
Carl Hogg
- Hoggy is a terrific guy and a good coach but he feels it’s time for him to move on at the end of the season.
- The fact of professional rugby is that people move on and that’s just the nature of the game.
Players returning
- Nick Schonert has worked hard to get back from injury while Will Spencer took part in practice today and should be good to go for the weekend.
- Bryce Heem returned after a two-week break and said he feels refreshed.
- We gave breaks to a lot of guys in January as the season is so attritional and you want to make sure they are in good shape.
Bryce Heem and Jack Singleton
- Bryce Heem is under contract. He’s happy here and playing good rugby. Jack Singleton is under contract too.