CHRIS Fortey is hoping his barnstorming Shark attack will force Mike Ruddock into reconsidering his first choice hooker.

The Gloucester-born front-rower stepped in for regular starter Aleki Lutui, who was with his wife who’d just had a baby, and was a key factor in the Warriors’ demolition job on the Sale pack in the 17-9 victory.

The 33-year-old isn’t willing to give up his starting berth without a fight. “I don’t class myself as the number two, I want to put pressure on Aleki and Mike for selection and hopefully I did that at Sale,” he stated.

Although Lutui will be very difficult to oust from the Worcester front row, Fortey did his claims no harm at all with an impressive display in Stockport.

He added: “I had a bit of a point to prove as I’ve not had too much rugby recently, which is always difficult.

“The boys all worked hard for the full 80 minutes and we got our just reward.

“Things went well up front and it certainly helps your individual performance if you all play well together as an eight.

“Our line-out functioned pretty well and the scrum went very well — we all did our little bit to help the team. Hopefully, I did enough to put pressure on Mike to keep selecting me.

“Sale were a little bit weakened, but it was still a tough game.

“We just wanted to concentrate on doing our basics well, we did that and it put pressure on them.

“The set-piece went well, which allowed the backs to play a bit, but obviously we missed a few kicks.”

Because Worcester were victorious, there was room for a few cracks at wayward goal-kicker Matt Jones’ expense.

Fortey explained: “Us boys in the front row gave Matt plenty of ribbing in the dressing room afterwards because we’d done all the hard work to win penalties and he missed a few of them. I think he’ll be practicing hard today!

“He knows he missed a couple of easy kicks, but he’s a quality player and will bounce back. It’s just one of those things though, some days you get them, some days you don’t — that goes for kickers, throwers and passers.”