There season may have begun with a stumble against newcomers Northampton, but Worcester boss Mike Ruddock is hopeful for the season ahead…
Did you expect everything to take so long to kick in last season?
No I didn’t and I’ve got to take full responsibility for that, I probably underestimated the quality of the league and the physicality of the league. And the general quick ball game we wanted to play didn’t happen for a while, so there was a transitional period. We also changed some players around, brought in some youngsters, brought in some imported players like Greg Rawlinson, Sammy Tuitupou – and for any team it takes a while for combinations to bed in. But I think we saw the best of the team in the second half of the season and we took some notable scalps – people like Gloucester, who we’d never beaten before in the league, then Leicester…
When the wins were hard to come by was there the temptation to hit the panic button?
No, I remember talking to the squad and if they felt we should lose sight of our ambition to play with more width and pace, and the squad to a man all said they wanted to develop the style. A lot of games we were losing by one score and in some games we actually outscored the opposition in terms of tries but lost on points. We knew that if we kept on perfecting our game, taking our kicks, giving away less penalties then it would come good.
Was there any one specific problem?
We were top of the yellow card league last year and certainly that was a major reason why. If you end up with guys in the bin, it doesn’t help. That’s why we brought in Hugh Watkins as a consultant at the club, he’s a top referee and has been working with Pat and the boys to help us get to grip with the new laws and work with individuals to reduce the amount of penalties.
What did you make of Europe last year?
The Challenge Cup allowed us to play rugby and get wins against, if we’re to be honest, less quality opposition, so it certainly helped us to build confidence with the style we wanted to play. We were then able to make the step up to Premiership rugby, so it certainly served a purpose. Of course, it also allowed us to bed in some of the younger players and give them an opportunity.
Are the younger guys ready for the challenge this year?
Yeah I think so, with every successful team of the past there’s been a number of young players involved. Look at James Hook who came out of nowhere and ended up starting for Wales at outside half. I’m a big believer in giving young players a chance. Wherever I’ve been I’ve always promoted from within whether it was in Swansea many years ago or at Leinster where we had a number of experienced players retire and gave a chance to the likes of Shane Horgan and Gordon D’Arcy…
Is the Heineken Cup target?
We almost got there last year by sneaking in with the cup final but we weren’t quite good enough so I guess we weren’t good enough to be in there. But this year we need to improve again. To be honest though, it does give me a bit more time to develop the squad a bit because we need at least one more year to allow us to play week-in, week-out in the Guinness Premiership and Heineken Cup.