WORCESTER Warriors' director of rugby Mike Ruddock plans to channel the players and coaching staff's collective anger over their disappointing performance at Saracens to-wards their next Guinness Premiership match against Harlequins.
The Sixways chief admitted he and his coaches had some harsh words for their under-performing players at half-time during the 19-6 defeat at Vicarage Road.
However, rather than dwelling on the disappointing defeat, Ruddock plans to come out fighting and return to winning ways on Saturday.
The former Welsh Grand Slam-winning coach said: "The defeat is disappointing, but I don't think it is a huge setback.
"After the game, there was a very angry group of men in the dressing room because they know they didn't play as well as they can.
"I think we'll use that as a motivator to come out all guns blazing next week.
"The squad were not very pleased with themselves and the coaching staff certainly weren't very pleased with them either, so that will be our motivation for next week.
"There was bags of effort at times from a number of individuals, but collectively we didn't fire.
"Our scrum held up and our line-out defensively was OK too - we nicked a few balls off Sarries. There were parts of our game that, if we'd got some cohesion, we could have built on, but it just did not happen.
"Having said that, Sarries will look at their own game and say there were times during the match where they did not hit the heights either.
"Ultimately it came down to the try they scored during the sin-binning - they kept their line intact and we didn't.
"We are disappointed, but we know we can still press forward."
Ruddock plans to sit his players down and review a copy of the match video to highlight the areas where they came up short against Sarries and focus the team on playing at a higher tempo.
He added: "When we review the video of the game we will see some of what I call second gear rugby'. This compared badly to the end of the match when we upped the tempo and got into fifth gear.
"You can definitely see the difference and I've got to use that constructively to show my players that is the way I want them to play."
The stand-out Warrior at Vicarage Road was Sam Tui-tupou, who was full of energy, powerful running and tough tackling, despite a less-than-ideal preparation for the game.
Ruddock explained: "Sam was one who did have a good game although, as it turned out, he had an ear infection going into the match and didn't get any sleep the night before.
"I told him that I'll be ringing his house all night before a game or parking outside and tooting the horn to keep him up if he plays like that without any sleep!"
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article