Worcester Warriors’ opening round victory 13-12 over Northampton Saints took the competition by storm and sent the earliest of signals that Dean Ryan and his side were up for the challenge of staying in the Aviva Premiership. 18 rounds later they confirmed their spot in next year's competition and finished the season in tenth position.
After the initial elation of their opening victory further positive results took a little while to arrive as the Warriors went through the process of developing belief and learning how to win the tight games. On paper winning sounds easy but, as most of the sides that have been promoted from the Championship will tell you, it takes time to learn how to do this in the Premiership. Promoted squads need to develop their mindset and belief that they have the ability to topple much more established sides and after that, as long as their base level of physicality and performance is strong, the victories will arrive.
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| (C) @Francoishougi |
Worcester’s ability to stay up has been down to two vital factors. First the fact that they have had Dean Ryan at the helm steering and guiding them through the Premiership maze. Dean is an brilliant operator - he doesn’t shy away from what needs to be said, to his players or to the media, and knows the ins and outs of the competition like the back of his hand. Second, the introduction of Francois Hougaard on 15th February was critical. Dean Ryan’s perspective on the introduction of Hougaard was that ‘it was one of the highlights of the season’ and he’s on the money with that assessment. When the South African scrum-half arrived he was a breath of fresh air for the side. He motivated and galvanised their belief and on the field added first-class game management, pristine service out to Tom Heathcote and increased the tempo of their output significantly. Hougaard was the catalyst and the spark that Worcester required to raise their performance and close out the close games and the fact that they’ve secured his services for next season is sensational.
Dean Ryan openly talks about the transition that the club has been on over his tenure and it is one that is continuing. Worcester's academy is fully functional again and producing fruit and importantly there’s a collective want and desire to move the Warriors forward. Dean has now ensured that Sixways is a place that players want to go to in order improve themselves and compete in the top competition. Sixways is no longer is a place for players that are at the end of their careers to gain and pay check or two from, the ambition is tangible and that's vital.
For the Warriors this season was always going to be about learning and reestablishing themselves back into the swing of Premiership life because, let's face it, it's a very different beast to the Championship. Worcester now have the luxury of a larger recruitment window and a full preseason, two things that they weren’t able to have last year due to timings of the playoffs. In terms of their recruitment to date Ben Te’o is their standout addition and the fact that Eddie Jones wants to try and fast track him straight into his squad for Australia says everything that you need to know about the centre. Worcester already have potent attacking threats, with Chris Pennell, Cooper Vuna and Bryce Heem and now with the ball carrying ability and distribution of Te’o we should expect a lot more from the Warriors in the 2016/17 season. 