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| Matt Powell has called on supporters to create a red-hot atmosphere |
| © Ian Smith |
| Skipper Powell issues war cry to fans |
| 16 March 2007, 11:44 am |
| By Ben Mottram |
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| Warriors skipper Matt Powell has urged supporters to make Sixways a ‘cauldron of noise’ for tonight’s crunch clash with Newcastle Falcons (kick-off 8pm). |
Powell will again lead Warriors in the Guinness Premiership game, in place of injured captain Pat Sanderson, and insists the home side will be pumped up for the biggest game of the season.
But he has told supporters they also have a big role to play and has called for a packed home crowd to generate a red-hot hostile atmosphere as Warriors aim to make it a hat-trick of successive top-flight victories.
“We’ve had some pretty special Friday night games at Sixways, it’s a wonderful atmosphere and we’re hopeful we can get put in a performance that the crowd can react to,” he said.
“It would be great to run out to a real cauldron of noise against Newcastle, all the players love it when they start banging their feet on the stand.
“There is a really good atmosphere around the squad ahead of the game, we put in our best performance for quite a while, certainly this season, last Friday against Sale.
“We controlled that game for 70 minutes so we were really pleased, but we have to move on and take this massive game on.
“Newcastle are a very good attacking side and we’ve been working hard on closing them down and it’s going to be a real test of our defence.”
John Brain has named the same squad that defeated Sale for the visit of the Falcons to Sixways.
And the Director of Rugby admits the confidence in his side is at a season high ahead of the game.
“I thought it was a good performance against Sale and with a seven-day turnaround we have had a relatively light week so it makes sense for me to go with the same guys,” he said.
“But the pressure is not off, we have assumed that we need to win all our matches and that is how we are approaching it.
“We are not even thinking about defeat because we are playing good rugby. We’re well aware of the threat posed by Newcastle, they are a running, passing team that have scored the third most tries in the league this year.
“They won’t need our help in scoring tries and they will be keen to play their usual brand of rugby.
“They are missing Wilkinson, Tait, Noon and Flood who are all quality. But they have been in this situation before, when they are missing frontline players, and they have got some notable victories against Wasps, against Sale away, we won’t underestimate them or the threat they pose.
“But we will try and match them and there is more confidence in our players than there has been at any time this season.” |
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