Coaches Comments - Tom Cruse previews Cambridge

The Warriors are back in Champ Rugby action this weekend, taking on Cambridge at Sixways after two weekends without rugby.

Speaking ahead of Saturday’s game, Warriors Assistant Coach Tom Cruse said, “We all had a bit of time to recuperate, gather our thoughts a bit as well after that last block, and then we’ve ripped into training last week with an eye on a big block of games.”

“It was valuable for us to have given a few players a recharge and give us time to get a few boys back on the pitch.”

“The break has given us a nice block of fixtures to look back on and then the opportunity to reflect on it and then see what we can improve into this next block.”

The last block of fixtures saw the Warriors come away with four victories out of six, with Cruse speaking around the positives of the last block, “I thought it was really positive, there were some really good performances first and foremost, which were backed up by results as well.”

“Obviously, a challenging & disappointing game at Lady Bay to finish the block.”

“Matt (Everard) spoke after the game that our fundamentals let us down, so there’s really clear things for us to work on from a skill and lineout perspective.”

The final block of games sees an exciting run-in as we head towards the business end of the season, and Cruse noted that it’s all about focusing inwards. “They’re all challenging games. You know what they’ll be talking about this week, it’s a great place for them to come and play, but for ourselves it’s just about building on what we did in that last block, and like I said we did loads really, really well, and then it’s improving those fundamentals.”

When the Warriors visited Cambridge back in November, it was 14-14 at halftime before the Warriors ran away with a 61-14 victory, but Cruse is under no illusions that the threat will be strong.

“Cambridge are a team that are fighting for everything, there’s some good players in that squad and they are well coached.”

“We expect a team that provides a really good set piece for us to test ourselves against and also a team that is really tight-knit.”

“Like I said, it’s a great place to come and play rugby, so we have to be really smart around the way we start games, to take the emotion out of it and get our game on the pitch early on.”