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!