Redman thanks Warriors faithful for clearing up Sixways snow (From Worcester News)

Redman thanks Warriors faithful for clearing up Sixways snow

8:40am Monday 21st January 2013 in Sport By Tom Guest, @tomguestWN #WENsport

NIGEL Redman praised the army of volunteers and Warriors groundstaff that descended on Sixways to help clear snow from the pitch and surrounding areas to enable Worcester’s Amlin Challenge Cup game with Bizkaia Gernika to go ahead.

Once the Sixways playing surface was clear, there were no obstacles in Warriors path as they cruised to a 71-19 rout of the Spanish visitors.

Assistant coach Redman said: “First and foremost, you say thank you to the groundstaff and fans for getting the game on and Gernika for making a very difficult trip. And also the supporters who came down to watch.

“We were determined to get the game on, so before we even started the match we needed to say thanks to Gernika, the groundstaff and the supporters.”

The former England lock added: “We said before that we would judge ourselves on our accuracy of attack, our lines of running and our understanding of the roles throughout the team.

“All of these players have not played for a number of weeks prior to the Rovigo game. That was a work-on, so we will look at the tape and look at their accuracy first.

“It was cold out there, but we play in the winter when it’s cold and wet so maybe we should be better at dealing with that.

“I thought we played with positive intent, 11 tries scored and 71 points which I think is still outscoring most teams in the Amlin Challenge Cup. Ben Howard came on and showed great pace, particularly when you look at the surface.”

He added: “You look at Errie (Claassens), Josh (Drauniniu) and Nikki (Walker), they are all pushing for places long-term. It was important that they pushed themselves.

“They want to be playing in the first team they have got a job to do.”