Former Saint wants to put smiles on Worcester Warriors’ faces (From Worcester News)

Former Saint wants to put smiles on Worcester Warriors’ faces

10:00am Saturday 16th February 2013 in Sport By Tom Guest, @tomguestWN #WENsport

THERE’S no place like home for Worcester Warriors centre Jon Clarke, who is targeting a string of Sixways successes to finish the season on a high.

The former Northampton three-quarter is set to line up against his old team-mates when Saints visit Worcester’s headquarters in the Aviva Premiership today (3pm).

The one-time England Saxon, 29, said: “We have got to make home advantage count now for the rest of the season. It’s massive and when the fans cheer, it’s a great feeling. We are trying to play good rugby and as the weather has changed it has made it more difficult for us.

“A big crowd helps, a big cheer makes a big difference. We want to win for the fans and against Northampton we want to make them happy, there is no doubt about that.

“It will be a good atmosphere, the Saints always bring fans and it’s not that far for them to travel. I hope I get a good reception from the away fans, I always had a good relationship with them and I hope they saw what I gave for the club.

“Northampton and Worcester are proper rugby clubs in my eyes with the atmosphere you get.

“Hopefully they will cheer me on but, make no mistake, I want it to be the home fans who have the most to smile about.”

After a stop-start beginning to his Warriors career, Clarke has had a run of starts in the first XV and feels he is getting back to his best.

He added: “It’s annoying when you arrive at a new club and you just want to do well. It has been stop-start for me to an extent, but it’s nice to be playing now and I have had a good run of games.

“Things have been going well for me and, although a few results have not gone our way, overall I am glad to be playing and to be in the mix and challenging for places.”