DELIGHTED head coach Carl Hogg felt Worcester Warriors had ‘found a way to win’ after edging to a 15-13 victory against holders Leinster ‘A’.

 

He said: “It wasn’t a classic game but we found a way to win.

“We have talked all year about developing and developing our game but you get to a semi-final and it’s about finding the margins to win a game of rugby.

“Leinster came out and had a real crack and they have obviously got some good strike players, have won it for the last two years and are a real threat with ball in hand.

“Leinster have got some quality individuals who are a threat and credit to this group because they found a way to win and that’s a massive stride from where we have been over the last couple of months.

“We went back to a power game and we knew we had some ascendancy around the set-piece and we stuck to it and I am absolutely delighted for the players.”

Some of Warriors’ players had not played for several months and Hogg said that factor, together with a blustery wind, had led to a dour first-half.

“It was a little bit disjointed and we were a little bit rusty because the players hadn’t had a huge amount of game-time recently.

“There wasn’t a great deal of cohesion in the first-half. There was a fair degree of wind and it was troublesome and we played into the wind in the first-half. We were pretty comfortable where we were at half-time.

“In the second-half, we had a game-plan to be a little bit more direct and a little bit more physical and we put the ball down in their corner and we did that exceptionally well.”

He added: “In the second-half our control of the game and our control of field position was much greater. We used the breeze to our benefit in the second-half with box kicks off nine and kicks off 10. Turning Leinster around was pivotal to the outcome of the game.

“I am not sure we would have been able to play like that six months ago. I think we might have looked to over-play and exposed ourselves. But we found the corners, put pressure on Leinster and we camped inside their 22. It was a great example of how to win a semi-final.”

Warriors were strong at the set-piece and Hogg had identified that as an area which Worcester could exploit.

“We had an edge up-front in our scrum and around our drive and we knew that would be the differential in the game and that’s the way it proved,” said Hogg.

“We also talked about muscling up as a forward pack in the second-half and going after their ruck and we thought we could get some yards around there. All the forwards stuck their hands up and worked hard.”

Perry Humphreys’ try which swung the tie in Worcester’s favour was the stand-out moment in the match.

“It came off a kick return – we had applied pressure in their half and they were trying to exit,” said Hogg. “Perry ended up catching it and it was a disjointed defence and he took his chance very well.”