JP Morgan 7's Final 2013

In early August 2012 Worcester Warriors managed something never before achieved, we won 3 from 3 on a JP7's night and progressed through to the finals.

The success was such a boost to players and fans alike, with Twitter, Facebook and forum explosions.  I've not seen so many positive Warrior's comments since we won the Championship final against Pirates.

The group stage was played in front of 12,000 fans at Kingsholm, in glorious sunshine and marked the launch of BT Sport, the final however was not so prestigious.  The Rec, I am afraid to say, lives up to it's name, especially out of season.  With only 3 of it's 4 stands in place and the Terrace being made up of composite parts and scaffolding, the ground did not reflect the beautiful surroundings.

With around 6,000 in the ground the cheerleaders and announcers had their work cut out to build the atmosphere and more importantly the volume, but once the action was underway the fans soon got into the mood.

First up on the night: Worcester Warriors vs Leicester Tigers.  

In the build up to the final, 7's captain and England 7's player Richard de Carpentier declared in his interviews that we were no longer the underdogs, that would should be taken seriously and that we had something to prove.  Big words and did just the job to excite the fans and build a level of expectation that, I am sure, swelled the numbers of travelling Warriors fans.

So with expectation high and even outside rugby fans such as @rugbyTON and @rugbystig suggesting we should be favourites the match night squad entered the stadium with high expectations:

01 Richard de Carpentier (c)
02 Cameron Goodhue
03 Andrew Boyce
04 James Stephenson
05 Paul Hodgson
06 Tom Chapman
07 Tiff Eden
08 Max Stelling
09 Rhys Owen
10 Ben Howard
11 Reece Chapman-Carry
12 George de Cothi

With only one change from last week, the enforced replacement of Josh Buggea with Warriors new boy Cameron Goodhue, the majority of the squad were heavily involved in getting us to the final and had been playing together for a couple of weeks.

The players took to the field and all the Warrior fans around us were excitedly cheering, shouting and and bashing the stupid TRY signs that double for a fan and fart sound generator.

We all knew that our key strength in the group games was our acceleration into the game, rapid response to the breakdown and breaking the defensive line over and over again, most teams didn't even get a score against us in the first half last week and more of this was on order.

A twitchy start followed with successive poor passes from Tiff Eden preventing James Stephenson the chance of an early pitch length run for a try.  A few minutes later and Tigers convert the first try of the tournament.  Slow start in comparison to last week but this is 7's rugby and there was plenty of time to get scoring. Unfortunately following some extremely odd refereeing decisions Tigers were the next on the score sheet, which was made even worse 20 seconds from half time when captain Rich DC was yellow carded for a "high tackle", at the time of writing this I am yet to see anything that tells me the tackle warranted a penalty, yet alone a yellow card.

The game restarted with a halftime score of 0-14 and with last weeks man of the round still in the bin Tigers took their chances and ran in to make it 0-21 and very uncomfortable for the Warriors.  Eden seemingly finding it hard to reach his levels of last week was replaced, leaving us without a kicking specialist on the pitch.

At this point Max Stelling started his single handed mission to bring us back into the game with our first try of the evening, making the scores 5-21 with the conversion missed in relatively comedic style.  Bouncing and buoyant the Warriors turned to face the Tigers restart which immediately alluded our defensive plans and resulted in a try, 5-28.  A further try with 1 minute left on the clock sealing the result, Stelling tried his hardest again to level out the game, again scoring a try and this time kicking his own conversion.

Final score 12-35

Having opened the finals, as the newly crowned group winners and trophy hopefuls, against the team least expected to win, with a hammering it looked like it could be a long night for Warriors fans.

Following the games of Glaws vs Falcons, Tigers played Quins, the 3rd team in our final group.  We were firm in the knowledge that we needed Quins to win this to stand any chance of getting to the final.  At the start of the game all Tigers needed was a bonus point to prevent us form being able to get to the final.

In a very exciting game Tigers finish the victors, sealing their place in the final and relegating the Warriors vs Quins game to one of pride more than competition.

20:40 came and with nothing to play for both teams entered the pitch.  From a Worcester point of view the first half was bit of a non event, from a fans point of view, standing at the end of the pitch we should have been attacking it was literally a non event and it ended 0-10.

With a defence leaking tries through the middle we started the second half in the same vein as the first and conceded a try giving Quins a 15-0 lead.  In the past this is where I would expect to see a capitulation and clear signs of player saving themselves for the next game, but not with the new look Worcester.

A cracking try from new boy Tom Chapman, quickly followed by a try from Reece Chapman-Carry brought the scores to 14-15, the competition was back on, but on the downside, in completing the conversion, Tiff Eden slipped and hurt his ankle.

With the game in the balance and pride on the line our boys took the game to Quins and went for it, giving it everything they had to get the win.  As sometimes happens in rugby, the harder you push for the victory the easier it is for your opponents counter attack. Unfortunately for our lads the harder they tried to score the bigger the gaps they left open and the game and competition was over.

Final score 14-29

I very disappointing end to our 7's series though our most successful JP Morgan 7's ever.

Why did we go into the evening on such a high and leave on such a low?  It isn't because the other teams were any better than our group competition, proved by the fact Gloucester ran out eventual winners, no it was more to do with our mentality and ability to hit the pitch with nothing to prove and take the other teams by surprise.  This was evident by the 'school boy' errors by the like of Tiff Eden in the first game against Tigers.

In the group stage we were underdogs, our players knew it, the other teams knew it and the commentators wouldn't stop saying it even when 20+ points up against Exeter or Bath. We were underdogs and the players used that to our advantage, we flew out of the blocks, seized the initiative and ran in points.  There were no nerves as we had nothing to lose and fast flowing rugby was allowed by the officials.  It could not have been more different in the finals.

In the finals we were the self proclaimed "former underdogs", we now had a target; winning, we now had pressure; expectation and we now had opposition that saw us as a threat and was not going to take it easy on us.

I cannot say that any of our lads had a bad game, the problem was that they did not achieve the highs set at Kingsholm, they did not have the best game we had ever seen them play, as they all came last week, they performed, battled ok at the break down, made some good off loads, made a handful of line breaks and defended most attacks ok. 

Nothing about our game was exceptional.

Warrior of the Night: Max Stelling.  The giant centre, playing like a forward in the break down and a winger in open play.  Not only did he score half of our tries he converted one of them and put in sound solid tackles.  A great prospect for the coming seasons.

Well done to the young lads, welcome to the new lads, you all did us proud and exceeded all of our pre-tournament expectations.

Welcome back Worcester Warriors, the 2013/14 season has started and it has, so far, been a ball.

The New Season

Having had a nice rest at the end of last season and now building up my writing strength in preseason I will be fighting fit for the coming season. 

The season appears to have started early for us with the surprise success in the JP Morgan 7's last week, so I will be returning from preseason early with a report following this Fridays final at the Rec

Tom Chapman out pacing Bath to score his first try in a Warriors shirt

Is Ignacio Mieres any Good(e)?

Ignacio Mieres

Player profile on the Worcester Warriors new fly half

"Nacho" as he's known to many rugby fans was a complete bolt out of the blue and one signing in particular that I never expected especially as he was contracted to the Chiefs for next season. I guess he was the signing that showed Goodey was surplus to requirements at Warriors.

I personally rate Ignacio highly, but he still has some improvements to make on his game management in my opinion. Even so I still think he's a very good modern day fly half with great attributes such as his speed and eye for a gap in the opposition defence.

The season before last,he was rated as one of the stand out performers in the league for the Exeter Chiefs, but last year he struggled to nail down a starting place due to Gareth Steenson's impressive form and some personal issues See Position Profile Fly Half

It's difficult to say how to rate this signing as Goodey was a "fans favourite" who had fantastic vision and a great kicking percentage that was always at the top of the charts in the Premiership.

All in all my personal view is that Nacho is the perfect age and will only get better as the years go on and not only that, I also think Paul Warwick will help improve his game with his guidance and input. 

With Meires I think he will add more to our attacking game with the "ball in hand" attacking game we're trying to adopt and is potentially a better passer of the ball than Goodey as many times last season I witnessed Goode incomplete a fair few passes on a regular basis.

One thing Warriors fans shouldn't forget  is that Nacho is a International player, but doesn't currently feature in the Los Pumas Argentinian squad, which will only make him more hungry to do well with our club so he can get himself into the minds of the selectors in time for the upcoming World Cup. 

With this in mind I can really see him playing out of his skin and in my view can only benefit our team and I think we have a very good fly half on our books indeed. 

AJ Bailey

Why do we need to say goodbye to Neil Best?

Dean Ryan has spoken of wanting to regain the 'rugby culture' at Warriors both on and off the pitch, well as characters go they do not get any more 'rugby culture' than Besty!  

With so many changes in the on the field and off the field personnel we need all the character we can get.  Without Neil Best in the setup we will be reliant on Craig Gillies (no bad thing) to bring he players back to a place of team work, Worcester passion and playing for each other with the sole aim of winning as a team.

When we were in the Championship I remember having a chat with Neil post game.  In those days (not really that long ago) the players would join fans for a beer in the Scrum Club after a game in a very relaxed and unstructured way.  Anyway, we were talking about my son who was 18 months old at the time and that being a proud Dad I was sure he would grow up to be a strapping back row and would love him to be just like Best, he replied "What? You want him to have skin like mine and a nose like this?  What kind of a Dad are you?" His response was so dead pan I almost didn't know what to do with myself.  Luckily he couldn't hold his laughter for too long and added "Seriously though, why do you want him to be like me?  I'm a dinosaur in rugby terms you want him to be more like the lad Kvesic"  The conversation went on but this sums up my thinking of Neil Best.  A massive character, ever the comedien but also a consumate rugby professional.  The man clearly held every club he played for close to his heart and played every minute of every game like it was his last.

From 2002 Best played for Ulster putting in over 100 appearances before switching to Saints in 2008. 

Neil joined us for the fight back into the Premiership in 2010 and was an outstanding performer.  Hopefully not too many of the London Scottish fans read his not so complementary comments about the RFU Championship and the oposition he faced!

Having played for Ireland 18 times Best built a reputation as a hard hitting no nonsense player.  For many at Worcester he was considered a yellow card waiting to happen.  Playing 61 times for Worcester Neil received 7 yellow cards and scored 25 points.  This might be a little harsh as Sam Betty has played 48 times in the same position and received 4 yellow cards, with plenty of time to match Best's 7 in 61 record.

The man literaly put his body on the line each and every game he played for us.  In November 2011, against Bath he broke his arm but continued to play for 20 minutes!

Prior to the 2012/13 season starting Neil suffered an injury that not only almost cost him his career it could have cost him his life!  

The injury described as Prepatellar Bursitis in his left knee became infected. Following 2 weeks in hospital, 3 operations and many visits from concerned family, friends and players he made a great recovery and got back into training and playing no more than a month later, making his first appearance of the season, against Gernika in October 2012.

So the man puts his body on the line in every game he has played for us, is now an experienced level 3 coach but we couldn't find room for him as a player coach?

London Scottish announced today (30/05/2013) the 'exciting' signing of Neil Best from Worcester Warriors.  

Exciting?  Excited! Best is the most excited and comedic player I have ever met.  I will long remember the image of him running aroound the Sixways training pitch with the, newly aquired and very serious bits of technology, GPS trackers, making the the shape of a cock and balls for all the coaches and physios to see on their monitors.

My assumption is that the signing of Jonathan Thomas sealed Neil leaving the club and though he is clearly a great signing I feel we will miss Best's changing room banter, on the pitch battling and his developing skills as a qualified coach.

I really hope Best's move to London Scottish goes well for him, that he gets game time and the chance to show he still has the talent and drive that has made him such a successful player over the years.  If, when his contract ends he is looking to get into coaching, I for one would welcome him back to Sixways with open arms.

Position Profile - Fly Half

Is it possible for there to be more change than we have had at 10 this season?  First it was announced that Joe Carlisle was leaving for Wasps.  Obviously expecting to get out from under the shadow of 1st choice fly-half Andy Goode, who a month or so later announced that he was also leaving at the end of the 2012/13 season and that his new pastures were also in Buckinghamshire!  Good(e) luck Joey!

Is it possible this was the double deal clincher?

So what is the role of a fly-half?

This is an extremely important position within the match day XV and arguably, regardless of who is named captain, the man that runs the match day tactics.  It is therefore extremely important that the #10 understands and implements the tactics derived by the coaching staff (something Richard Hill stated was not being done by Andy Goode).
Set piece movements are directed through and by the fly-half, passing, kicking, tackling and positional play are essential.  Open-side flankers like to eat 10's for breakfast and if you have a fly-half considered weak then they quickly become an attacking target for the opposition, with the "10 channel" becoming a favoured attacking direction.

What do you want in a fly-half?

In 2 words "Johnny Wilkinson" but more detailed - tactical awareness, passing ability, kicking ability from hand and place kicking, great vision, a certain level of physicality and strong leadership skills.

What have we had in the past?

Some would say it is a who's who of journeymen, former internationals and potential talent that never quite made it.

What do we have at #10 for 2013/14?

With 1st and 2nd choice 10's leaving, then head coach Richard Hill signed up the services of Ignacio Mieres and Paul Warwick.  Two less similar characters and players would be hard to find.

We have already looked at Paul Warwick in detail Paul Warwick #23 though I would not consider him a fly half.  As the title of my article on him suggests, I would see him as more of a specialist 23 than a first choice 10.

Lets not forget Danny Gray!

To be fair to Danny, he had time out last season and fell behind Joe for the supporting role as Warriors 10, but when he did come on the pitch he looked great!  His first proper start was away to Bath, when Andy Goode, having just announced he was leaving Sixways, fell ill as he warmed up for kick off.  Though the game ended in our tears, Danny played very well and in my opinion deserved more game time as the season drew to a close.

The major signing at 10 has been that of Ignacio Mieres, who will be reviewed in detail by AJ Bails in the coming days.  To be fair he is arriving at Sixways under a bit of a cloud.  An 'unknown' issue at his now former club Exeter has meant he missed the 2012/13 season, but hopefully he arrives having served his time and more importantly learning what you do not do in and around other team members!

The future of the 10 shirt

Something we have missed in recent years is competition at the academy level for fly half. We hear about the Ford brothers and Burns brothers and we are now starting to see the fruits of their age group battles at Tigers (Bath), Leeds (Sale) and Gloucester, but we have not really had that... until now. 

Last season our lack of young 10's was so apparent that on more than one occasion our Cavalier side fielded Dr. Who - it turns out he is a lad that lives near former head coach Richard Hill.

The 'real' Tom Baker

The lad did OK but it was quite embarrassing that a top flight rugby club had to resort to such a level to field a specialist fly half.

In Elliot Davies and Tiff Eden we have two very talented future 10's, both still teenagers and both on the books for the 2013/14 academy season.  I will be watching these guys closely to see how they progress!

Paul Warwick #23

Last night  (Friday 17th May 2013) Paul Warwick played in the final of the Amlin Challenge Cup.  A game lost by Stade Francaise 34-13.  I say lost because of the amount of wasted possession in the first half.  By the time Leinster had put 21 points on the board SF had 69% of the possession but not a single point to show for it.  To be fair Leinster were amazing and deserved the title, Warwick came on at half time and played the game at scrum half... this is our new #10 I'm talking about!  So, who have we signed?

Paul Warwick

Born:       1981

From:      Australia 

Height:    5' 11"

Weight:   90Kg

Position: Scrum half / Fly half / Full back

His playing career started with Manly in Australia, the same team that the now Sir Clive Woodward ended his playing playing career with back in 1990.  

He joined Connacht for the 2004/05 season.  Scoring 97 points in the challenge cup, which saw him secure a further 2 year deal and catch the eye of many top flight rugby clubs.

2007 Warwick joined Munster.  In the same season they signed All Black legend Doug Howlett.  He had 4 good seasons at the club making 95 appearances and scoring 461 points.  Warwick played his last game for Munster against Scarlets scoring 8 points in April 2011.  He was on the bench for 4 further games but didn't actually make it onto the pitch.

During his time at Munster Warwick was caught up in a bit of controversy when he signed with London Irish for the 2009/2010 season but, for personal reasons, he changed his mind.

February 2011 saw the official announcement that Paul had signed for Stade Francaise and would be playing the 2011/12 season in the Top 14. He has played 48 times for Stade in a mixture of positions including scrum half, fly half and full back.

The 2012/13 season sees Warwick join up with the Worcester Warriors, described as a 'winner' by Richard Hill part of the reason for him being signed was his attitude to playing rugby, but I would imagine the main reason is his versatility.  Mr. Hill used the term 'utility player' a lot of time when talking about building for the future and Warwick is certainly one of those.

Primarily signed as a  fly half to support the work of another Warriors new boy, Ignacio Mieres, Paul has a lot of experience playing at 15 for Munster and as he showed last night, in the Amlin Challenge Cup final, he is a very accomplished scrum half too.

Although he does not have any full international caps, the Australian has played for the Barbarians and 7's rugby for his country.

International or Premiership rugby experience he is not bringing to the club, but he does have bags of European experience and has been brought in to spread his 'winning' mentality. 

If his performance in the final is anything to go by we have signed a quality player. Considering I have not seen any profile description state him as a scrum half he was more than capable in that position.  Very early to the break down, extremely physical in retrieving the ball and in the tackle.  You could see him controlling the forwards and at times he would also take on the role of fly half and be controlling the backs.

Warwick was interviewed by the Irish Times prior to the Amlin final and said of his time with Stade “Yeah it’s been . . . eh . . . interesting,” but he did confirm that he is really looking forward to his move to England, so hopefully we will avoid a repeat of the London Irish episode of 2009.

It has been reported by the club that Warwick will be the back-up 10 for Mieres but also that he will be the player mentor for new academy recruit Tiff Eden.  

Tiff made his Warriors debut in the Greene King 7's in Bury St. Edmonds.  A 7's specialist (or as specialist as you can be at anything when you are 18 years young) and fly half he received very good reports from players and coaches alike.

A big welcome to the club Paul, of the signings Dean Ryan has inherited surely this is one that he will be happy with, I'm really looking forward to seeing Warwick playing in the blue and gold of Worcester Warriors.

 

The Big Farewell

What a season! It has been such a roller coaster 8 or 9 months. We had a great preseason in terms of results but picked up 12 first team injuries. We had a massive home win against Irish but our A League team, weak due to injury, lost all their games. We scored freely in the Amlin cup games but did not qualify for the knock stages even though we topped our group. Our last win of any description was 1st March and then... All change!

Over recent seasons, what with relegation and promotion, we have seen large changes in personnel but this season, it is seemingly massive!

At the start of the season we had 26 players needing new contracts (actually 24 but then we add Murray and Walker's contract was cancelled) and once January came along it was clear that more than half the team had their minds on other things. Yes some were playing for a deal, but it was also evident that friction was building between the club and the players. 

We managed to negotiate and retain 12 of the 26

Porter
Shervington
Hayes
Murray (Marquee)
Percival
Gillies
Betty
De Carpentier
Arr
Drauniniu
Howard
Pennell

Which with the use of some complex maths leads me to think 14 are leaving

Mullan
Lutui
Big Dave
Currie
Best
Kvesic
Cowan
Perry
Frost
Goode
Carlisle
Walker
Short
Claassens

If you even up the teams a bit and lend the leavers some locks I can't help but feel that the leaving team would win! Don't get me wrong, we have retained some key guys; Shervington, Murray, Percival, Pennell etc and we have extended the deals for some exceptional young talent with the likes of Porter, Hayes and Howard. Just look at the players and positions we have lost; Matt Mullan loose head international prop, Aleki Lutui international captain, Big Dave one of the best tight heads in the sport, James Currie an exciting and dynamic young tight head, Matt Kvesic now called up for full England honours. The list goes on. It seems such a shame to have worked and developed these lads and now to lose them.

Mullan, Currie, Kvesic, Frost, Carlisle and Short are all English Qualifying and have all come through our academy system. They are leaving for the likes of Wasps, Leeds and Bristol leaving a very large gap in our development cycle and even bigger one in the front row.

Not only have we lost 14 playing staff we have lost our coaching staff too

Richard Hill
Nigel Redman
Phil Vickery
Phil Larder
Mathieu Rourre

All gone.  Former England players, world cup winning player, world cup winning coach, head coach, forwards coach, front row coach, defensive and attacking coaches.  The whole set-up is changing.  To be honest the likes of Vickery and Rourre do not seem to have made much of an impact as part time specialist coaches, especially as Rourre cancelled his dual role in December to take over at his French job share club Biarritz.  

Dean Ryan and Shane Howarth have been brought in with other, full time, coaches to be announced soon.

The man at the top, Charlie Little has been replaced due to being, in Cecil Duckworth's words, too young “When I brought Charlie into the club, my plan was always to train him up to be managing director, but the general feeling on the board is that he is still a young man and not mature enough to take us forward, so we thought a change would be better now." Worcester News 

The disruption due to change has been vocal throughout the support base, let alone the squad itself.  Since January we have been drip fed announcements of new deals, new signings and players leaving.  In the most part the official news coming some time after the likes of BBC Sport or local papers making the *BREAKING NEWS* statements.  This was compounded at the last home game of the season.  The traditional point at which the fans get to say thank you and farewell to the outgoing players.  

At the home game against Quins in April we were still awaiting official news on the futures of; Lutui, Dave, Best, Perry, Currie and Frost.  After the game fans flooded the pitch to thank and have pictures with the likes of Goode, Mullan and Kvesic but long standing stars Lutui and Best had not officially been announced as leaving and therefore did not give the fans chance to say thank you.

It was not until the end of season party that Cecil finally confirmed that Best, Currie and Frost are leaving and as of writing this, it has still not been published on the official website.

To offset some of the lost players we have made 8 new signings

Leonardo Senatore
Paul Warwick Augustin Creevy
Ignacio Mieres
Paul Andrew
Ofa Fainga'anuku
Mike Williams
James Stephenson

These signings will add some quality and flair to the side, though the jury is still out on how having 3 Argentinian internationals will affect the squad.

What does all this change mean?  For a start there is no looking back.  Having finished 11th in the premiership there are many lessons to learn but with all of the coaching staff changing and a massive part of the playing staff leaving do we have the systems and personnel in place to learn from our mistakes?  With the culture and team spirt absent from the team can we rebuild and start to play for each other again?  With an entire front row of Mullan, Lutui and Dave leaving how will our front 5 function?  A complete change at fly-half, bringing in a 10 that has hardly played in the 2012/13 season and a full back, will this be an improvement or will they both need time to get up to premiership speed?  Youth and pace seemed to be the target with the new signings but we have also lost a lot of premiership experience. Of the 8 signings only Mieres has played in the premiership and he has only made 26 starts.

Change is good, change improves processes, increases effectiveness and ensures objectives are achieved but change is also disruptive, time sensitive and can go drastically wrong.  When trying to get to the root cause of an issue it is key that you do not make too many changes at once as you may never understand the true failing and worst case can create new problems to compound the original issue.

Has there been too much change?  Will Dean Ryan need his much talked about magic wand? We will find out this time next season!

I have a joke for you about the Warriors

"What's the difference between Worcester Warriors and London Welsh?"

"A draw, 3 bonus points and a forged visa"

In the end that is it. I guess it isn't that funny, but it is a joke. Yesterday we were meant to be breaking our away day nil, instead Welsh scored their first TBP of the season. How did that happen?

Round 5 we beat London Irish 35-11 and from round 6 until round 20 we held 9th place.  With the last kicks of the season Sale beat Wasps climbed above us and our 33-22 defeat ensured we finished 11th. Having looked over our shoulder all season at Irish, Welsh and Sharks suddenly it is only the relegated exiles below us. 

There is always a silver lining and this season it has been Josh D. Playing against his former club yesterday he scored a rapid fire brace that at least made the score line semi respectable.  

This season we thought was going to be the start of something special. The squad was coming together. Losses were turning into LBP losses, draws to wins and we were picking up some TBP too, but 1 win in 2013 and no away win all season were telling:

This season we:

Scored 33 points 3 LESS than last and only 5 better than when we were relegated

Picked up 8 LBP 2 MORE than last and the same as when we were relegated

Won 3 TBP we have only EVER scored 2 before in the premiership

Scored 422 points 100 MORE than last and 110 more than when we were relegated

We won 5 matches 2 LESS than last and 2 more than when we were relegated

Of the 422 points we scored 219 were from the boot of Andy Goode. 

If the RFU were to turn around today and say, Worcester Warriors we are sorry for the points our refs prevented you getting, with their poor decisions. He you go, have your 9 points, we would still only finish 9th. We were that far behind the elusive Heineken Cup rugby positions in the end we would almost need to double our points to qualify. 

The season has ended now and there is nothing more we can do other than look forward to the Lions tour which will result in no Warrior injuries, Dean Ryan taking charge of preseason, the myriad of announcements that noneed to be made regarding new talent on and off the pitch and the new kit, which hopefully this season will arrive before Gus Creevy!

As a club we only ever seem to give 3 years; Brain, Ruddock, Hill. The worst year always seems to be the 3rd. This time we need to enter into the Ryan era with a 5 year plan. Next season is stave off relegation mode, then build into the middle 4 then maybe 2 years to qualify for the Heineken Cup and the 5th year to see what success feels like. Then and only then can anybody really say we gave our DoR the support he needed. Maybe if such a plan was put in place and made public the fans would buy into it. 

One thing is for certain, if the club say we have started a journey, a 3 year journey, a journey to HC rugby - I for one will not buy it and will be holding back my excitement until 2016 when the next DoR comes in. 

My joke at the start wasn't factually correct, what is the difference between Worcester Warriors and London Welsh? We own our own ground, training facilities, indoor training facilities, we have a fan base on the door step, a land complex to develop further, experienced board members, very wealthy financial backers, international talent, a former lion - we have everything they would love to have and yet the only things that actually separate us are a draw, 3 bonus points and a forged visa!

Match Day - Warriors at Welsh

The end of the 2012/13 Aviva Premiership season is upon us and Worcester Warriors travel to London Welsh. I'm not sure if it will be a sad affair or a party for Welsh saying goodbye not only to the Premiership but also to Oxford. Either way we are putting out a team with a lot to prove and I fancy getting that away day monkey off our back, at last. 

The front row is pretty much as it has been for 2013. Mullan making his final appearance after 8 years amazing service for the club. Ed Shervington in charge of throwing and Euan Murray set to play his 14th game in blue and gold. I know he won't be happy but I'm quite glad he didn't make the Lions tour. Don't get me wrong, I want our players to win caps for country and touring sides, but it does mean he gets a good rest and full preseason with Dean Ryan ready for next season. As our 'marquee' signing he has a lot to live up to. 

The second row pairing of captain Percy and Chris Jones has been our best all season. Chris returned from injury and came straight into the side ahead of Schofield, has surpassed the 200 premiership appearance mark and frankly played out of his skin. James Percival on the other hand has been on the pitch for all but 12 minutes of the entire premiership season, leading from the front and proving that if you sliced him in half, just like a cheap piece of Blackpool Rock, he would read Worcester Warriors, all the way through.

The back row is a first. A first for the combination and a first league cap for Warriors new boy Rich de Carpentier. The 23 year old former Tigers back row, recently returned from 7's International duty in Hong Kong. To be fair he didn't play that much but he seemed to get a good tan!
Another first, so far as I can remember, is we are playing a specialist 6 at 7 whilst keeping our specialist 7 on the bench. Technicalities I'm sure but what it means is that we have Best at 6 and Betty at 7. Now this combination is going one of two ways. Amazing defence freeing up the agile Rich dC or a shed load of yellow cards against the Warriors. 
I feel we always look smaller as a team when Semisi is not playing, but after the hit he took against Quins it's not a massive shock he is not playing today. 

The 9 - 10 pairing of Arr and Goode has been one of the best partnerships we have seen this season. Are was recently quoted saying that Perry being at the club has really helped his game develop. Well I think playing with Andy Goode has equally helped him develop into our first choice 9 ahead of Dodge. 

Goode is playing his last game for Worcester, having spent the best part of an hour saying goodbye, posing for pictures and kissing babies 2 weeks ago, I think it is clear to him that he will be missed by the fans. Will we miss him as a player? You can't argue with an average of 10 points per game when he has played over 80 games, but recent fitness and form mean his impact has been somewhat diluted making it much easier for Mieres and Warwick to take over the 10 role from Goode and Carlisle next season. 

Our wings are rapid. What Ben Howard lacks in experience he makes up in height, kicking ability and pace. Josh D has been playing exciting rugby all season and the improvements in his defensive game have been massive. To keep an international player like Nikki Walker out of the team, except for 13 games is very impressive. 
We will miss Lemi today. Who wouldn't? The pocket rocket has played 22 games scoring 55 points. Yes, he has a massive 50% score rate, which compared to our other and historic wingers is amazing!

The 12 & 13 partnership is controversial to some fans as not only has our best 13 moved to 12 our soon to be ex 'star utility back' is selected at 13.  For me I think it is great.  I am biased as I have been fortunate enough to sponsor Andy Short and got to know him off the pitch.  He is an amazing lad and ever since he scored the opening try of the Italy JWC for England I have been sure he was a massive talent for the future.  This guy must have had the worst luck in rugby history for injuries, well maybe second to Ezra Taylor, with a loan to Pirates going really well last season it ended in a shoulder injury, a couple operations and a long lay off, then at the JP Morgan 7's he had his wrist broken by a ridiculous Gloucester tackle, that went completely unpunished.  



Our loss is Bristol's gain and I am glad Andy gets to make one last appearance.  I have a signed Andy Short 2012/13 Warriors home shirt sitting proudly on the wall of my sons bedroom and I will be following his Bristol career with interest.

Me, the rose between two thorns - Ollie Hayes & Andy Short 

Full back is held by the recently amazing and increasingly ever present Chris Pennell.  I have written a lot about him recently so I won't gush too much now, but another performance like that against Quins will remind the Warriors faithful why we did not retain the services of soon to be Sale Shark Arscott.

The bench is pretty much as good as it gets, with an added bonus - Max Stelling.  The 6'3" centre has been on loan to Jersey this season and played a big part in them staving off relegation.  He is not even 20 years old yet but has already made 3 senior appearances scoring 5 tries.  Not bad for a teenage centre!  I really hope he gets a decent run against Welsh and if, a BIG if, if we are in the lead when he comes on I have a very good feeling that he will get on the score board again.

There are a lot of good byes to be said by both teams today, but the biggest one for Warriors is good bye to our poor away record.  A win is needed today and with the mix of determination and youth I think we have what it takes to get that elusive victory.  It must be noted that Welsh are missing what might be considered 10 of their First XV but with our 18 months of poor away performances I am sure the team will take nothing for granted.

Full Team

Warriors v London Welsh

15 Chris Pennell
14 Josh Drauniniu
13 Andy Short
12 Alex Grove
11 Ben Howard
10 Andy Goode
9 Jonny Arr

1 Matt Mullan
2 Ed Shervington
3 Euan Murray
4 James Percival (c)
5 Chris Jones
6 Neil Best
7 Sam Betty
8 Richard de Carpentier

Replacements:

16 Aleki Lutui
17 Rob O'Donnell
18 John Andress
19 Dean Schofield
20 Jake Abbott
21 Paul Hodgson
22 Danny Gray
23 Max Stelling

Verdict

If it comes down to who wants this more then I think Welsh will record a home victory.  They want to go out with a bang and many of the players are playing to secure squad places next season.  If running rugby, team work and the will of the captain have anything to do with this game then Warriors will finally get an away day victory in the Premiership.

A loss could see us slip to 11th place.  A win could see us secure the 9th place we have been gripping onto since round 6.  

Irish to lose, Warriors to win and 9th place to be ours.  Away win 12-18