HAVING celebrated his 23rd birthday by scoring his 50th Worcester Warriors try in the first leg of the Championship final at Cornish Pirates, Miles Benjamin has set his sights on another milestone.
The Sixways try machine, who has scorched over the whitewash 25 times in 29 outings this season, makes his 100th Warriors appearance in Wednesday night’s second leg of the final (7.45pm).
While the academy-produced speedster is looking forward to the memorable match, he insists Warriors will not let their nine-point lead from the first leg slip due to complacency.
He said: “My 100th game is a nice landmark to reach and it feels like it has come around quite quickly.
“I am pleased to be getting there and I’ve had a good time at the club — it will be an honour to lead the team out on Wednesday night, I’ve never done that before.
“My 50th try has been a long time coming, but it was a good way to celebrate my birthday.
“I had spent most of my birthday just hanging around at the team hotel, so it was good to get out there and help the team.
“The nine-point lead from the first leg is a nice cushion to have, but we certainly won’t be getting complacent.
“We saw in the semi-final with Bedford how quickly points can be scored — Pirates could wipe out that lead in the first 10 minutes.
“I always want to score more tries in a season than I have in the past, so I am happy to have got 25 this year.
“It is important to keep on learning year on year.
“Marcel (Garvey) and I don’t get too competitive — as an individual, you always want to put yourself up to the top of the try-scoring charts, but there has never been any rivalry between the two of us.”
Warriors are well acquainted with Pirates now having already met the Cornishmen four times this season and the Worcester winger insists they have plans in place to deal with their threats.
Benjamin added: “Of course, you look at individuals across the team and ways of dealing with them.
“Rob Cook is one of those. He is playing well but we have looked at how we can put him under pressure and negate his threat.
“We have looked at their side across the board as much as we can, so we are fully prepared.
“We’ve had some close games this season where we have gone behind early on but have pulled it back.
“I think that says a lot about us as a squad.
“We are not fearful of any challenge.”
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