Coaches Comments - Matt Everard looks ahead to Richmond

The Warriors are on the road again this weekend, facing Richmond in the Ellior Champ Rugby – fresh off the back of a victory away at Cornish Pirates.

Looking back at the victory over Pirates, Head Coach Matt Everard said, “I think the staff were absolutely brilliant and really helped the team to perform and also the wider squad, the guys that actually didn’t travel and the injured players had a super week in helping the team to play.”

“And the players who were lucky enough to represent the club at the Mennaye. I thought they were outstanding, I was really proud of them – mainly around their effort and the physicality of the game, I thought we stepped up a level.”

“The whole weekend we were a really special, tight-knit group, and I thought that carried over into a really physical performance.”

Countless Warriors fans made the long journey down to Penzance, with Everard adding how important the support is for the team.

“It absolutely makes a difference, we spoke to the group in the week around the numbers that were going down, and I honestly think it made a difference in the week.”

“I thought the players did a brilliant job of representing those fans who travelled down on Saturday, and we are very grateful for them.”

“Obviously, the team and the staff went over and had a picture with the travelling fans, which felt like one of those moments of the season that we will reflect really fondly on.”

Looking ahead to Saturday’s trip to Richmond, Everard said, “Nic Rouse is a very impressive coach, a very experienced operator, and they’re this tough, tight group of players that work hard in every single performance they’ve had.”

“We respect Richmond and how they play the game and how they work for each other, and it’s going to be another tough contest.”

Warriors won the reverse fixture 31-19, but Everard is under no illusions about the improvements needed.

“I think we build on our own game, we’ve already highlighted  a couple of areas that we still need to improve from after a good performance at Pirates.”

“We got the result against them last time, but performance-wise I don’t think we were at our best, and that led to a few weeks on the bounce of our performances under the standard that we’ve set”

“So our preparation in the week is absolutely essential to be able to carry that performance into Saturday.”