Press Conference Notes 06.02.18

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.

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