Hill may leave Andy Goode on the bench on Saturday

Worcester Warriors head coach Richard Hill says the pre-season games have taught him a lot about his squad, not least the heavy defeat at Llanelli.

Warriors lost 43-14 to Scarlets but played a quarter of the game a man down after they had two players sin-binned.

"The game brought to the top the players that are in good shape and coped with the pace," Hill said.

"It's shown some players are not there yet for various reasons like niggling injuries or not as much pre-season."

Hill added: "The game in Wales was what I needed, there is no point having three games and they are all easy."

Former England fly-half Andy Goode had his first run out of the season at Parc y Scarlets, but Sixways academy graduate Joe Carlisle could well start in the number 10 shirt against Birmingham and Solihull on Saturday 28 August (1500 BST)

Hill admits there may some changes to his thoughts on the line up: "One or two have fought their way into contention.

"I am not going to name names, but I had pencilled a team in for next week and two or three have put their hands up and forced their way in."

There will be full commentary on Worcester Warriors v. Birmingham Solihull on BBC Hereford and Worcester on 104 FM and online.

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version