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Head coach Jonathan Thomas: 'Worcester need to be more clinical'
Worcester head coach Jonathan Thomas bemoaned his side’s failure to take their chances as they fell to a 27-5 defeat against Bristol at Ashton Gate.
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It was another loss on the road for Warriors, who have not been successful away from Sixways in any competition since September 2020.
Despite having the lion’s share of possession and territory, Warriors blew a host of opportunities and could record only a single try from Noah Heward, while potent Bristol scored four.
Sam Jeffries and Tom Whiteley added to a double from Toby Fricker, with Callum Sheedy kicking a penalty and two conversions.
Thomas said: “The final scoreline wasn’t the correct margin between the sides as the only difference was that they took their opportunities and we didn’t as we needed to be more clinical.
“In the first 20 minutes we left 13 points out there by not kicking a couple of penalties with a forward pass ruining a simple run-in and it’s vital you take your chances in the Premiership, especially away from home.
“Last week in our win over Sale we took them, and that gave us the platform to go on and win the match.
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“Three of their four tries were soft ones as they were opportunist scores with us coughing up possession to give them those chances.
“We have played eight games so far and have only won two of them but that doesn’t reflect the quality of our side.
“We knew there would be challenges with new coaches coming in and then being hit with injuries, so it’s been a curve ball in terms of adversity.
“However, we are not offering that as an excuse as we know we have to improve.”
MATCH REPORT: Warriors' away-day woes extend into a 14th month. ?
But it's five very welcome points for Pat Lam ?https://t.co/TPgt7jTpLN— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 6, 2021
Despite picking up a bonus-point victory, Bristol’s director of rugby Pat Lam accepted it was not a vintage performance from the Bears.
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He said: “I’m happy to take the five points and move on but it was a scrappy game.
“We went 3-0 up and then didn’t see the ball for 25 minutes, but we defended very well with our backs holding them up in the tackle and winning turnovers.
“We are seeing bits and pieces and good moments in the game but we are not perfect right now but don’t need to be, although we will need to be better in the future.
“It’s good that because of injuries, different players are coming in and getting opportunities which will only benefit us in the long run.”
Comments on RugbyPass
I am really looking forward to Leigh Halfpenny playing his first Super rugby game for the Crusaders Playing a long side his former Welsh and Scarlets team mate Johnny McNicoll.Johnny has been playing great, back in a Crusaders jersey.The attack has strengthened big time. Also looking forward to David Havili at 10. David is a class act, it also allows Dallas McLeod to remain at 12. A good thing.
1 Go to commentsIf he had stopped insisting on playing in the backrow, instead of wing, where everyone told him he should, he would have been a Bok years ago….
11 Go to comments‘Salads don’t win scrums’ 😂 I love that.
19 Go to commentsCan’t wait for the article that talks about misogyny in Ireland. Somehow.
16 Go to commentsI would like to see a rule change, when the attacking team is held up over the try line, by allowing the defensive team to restart a goal line drop out releases the pressure for the defensive team, but what if the attacking team had to restart a tap 5m out from the defensive team it gives the attacking team to apply more pressure, there are endless options for the attacking side and it will keep the fans in suspence.
2 Go to commentsLess modern South African males predictably triggered.
16 Go to commentsMy heart is with Quins, but the head is convinced Toulouse have too much. Ntamack is back, his timing and wisdom has been missed.
1 Go to commentsWow, what a starting line up for the Sharks) Tasty up front,kremer vs Tshituka or venter …fiery ,,Lavannini ,,will he knobble etzebeth? Biggest game for belleau?
1 Go to commentsIt was rubbish to watch, Blues weren’t even present. Did what they had to do, nothing more. Should be better next week against canes.
1 Go to commentsI’ve just noticed that this match has an all-French refereeing team. Surely a game like this ought to have a neutral ref? Although looking at the BBC preview of the Saints game, Raynal is also down as reffing that - so there may be some confusion about who is reffing what.
1 Go to commentsIf Havili can play anywhere in the back line, why not first 5. #10.
11 Go to commentsThe dressing room had already left for their summer break before they ran out in Dublin that year, and that’s on the coach. Franco Smith has undoubtedly made progress, particularly their maul, developing squad players and increasing squad depth. And against a very tight budget too. That said they were too lightweight last year and got found out against both Toulon and Munster in consecutive games. Better this season so far but they’ve developed something of a slow start habit occasionally, most notably losing at home to Northampton who played them at their own game. Play offs will ultimately show whether there has been tangible progress on last year, or not…!
2 Go to commentsAustralian Rugby has been a disaster, by not incorporating learning from previous successful campaigns. QLD Reds 2011 - Waratahs 2014. Players, coaches and administrators appoint there representatives for scheduled meetings, organisation’s agreement’s assessments and correspondence. This why a unified Rugby Union under one entity works. Every Rugby nation has taken that path. Was most difficult in the Northern hemisphere with over 100 years of club rugby before the game become professional. Took a lot of humility for those unions to eventually work together.
7 Go to commentsThough Wilson’s sacking was pretty brutal, it wasn’t just down to that Leinster game; Glasgow had a lot of 2nd half collapses that season, in the URC and Europe, and only just scraped into the playoffs. Franco Smith has definitely been an improvement, some players are delivering far more than they did under Wilson.
2 Go to commentsjesus - that front 5!
1 Go to commentsShould be an absolute cracker of a game! Will be great to see DuPont & Ntamack in tandem once again🔥
1 Go to commentsBest team ever…. To have played? These guys are still pressure chokers. Came nowhere when it counted. What a joke
84 Go to commentsMusk defends anonymous terrorism, fascism, threats against individuals and children etc etc But a Rugby club account….lock ‘em up!!!
2 Go to commentsActually the era defining moment came a few years earlier. February 2002 to be precise, when Michael D Higgins as finance minister at the time introduced his sports persons tax relief bill to the dial. As the politicians of the day stated “It seems to be another daft K Club frolic born in Kildare amongst the well-paid professional jockeys with whom the Minister plays golf” and that the scheme represented “a savage uncaring vision of Ireland and one that should be condemned”. The irfu and Leinster would be nowhere near the position they are in today without this key component of the finances.
5 Go to commentsIt is crystal clear that people who make such threats on line should be tried and imprisoned. Those with responsibility in social media companies who don’t facilitate this should be convicted. In real life, I have free speech to approach someone like Reinach and verbally threaten him. I am risking a conviction or a slap but I could do it. In the old days, If someone anonymously threatened someone by letter the police would ask and use evidence from the postal system. Unlike the Post, social media companies have complete instant and legal access to the content in social media. They make money from the data, billions. Yet, they turn a blind eye to terrorism, Nazi-ism and industrial levels of threats against individuals including their address and childrens schools being published online all from ananoymous accounts not real people. They claim free speech. Free speech for anonymous trolls/voilent thugs threatening people under false names? The fault is with the perps but also social media companies who think anonymous personas posting death threats constitutes free speech.
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