THERE have not been many heights captain Jonathan Thomas has not scaled in a career which has seen him land titles with Ospreys and Wales and represent his country in two Rugby World Cups.
But with Worcester Warriors facing a mountain to climb to remain in the Aviva Premiership, the 31-year-old said he had been left with his greatest challenge yet as he bids to guide his side to safety.
Warriors are currently clinging on to their top flight status having suffered 16 successive league defeats to leave them 11 points adrift at the foot of the table.
Despite his club’s sorry situation, though, Thomas firmly believes Warriors can avoid dropping into the RFU Championship.
However, the experienced back rower admitted Worcester’s next clash against London Wasps at Sixways on Friday night followed by their trip to relegation rivals Newcastle Falcons nine days later will be the tipping point.
“Eleven points may sound like a mountain to climb but if we get two wins in the next two games then all of a sudden we are in touching distance,” he said.
“It is still achievable and we still need to believe that we can do it and that is the message I will be making as captain of this club.
“Winning is a habit and we don’t have that at the moment. But if you were a neutral watching our games against Leicester, Northampton and Quins you wouldn’t have thought that we hadn’t won a game all season and we were bottom of the league as our performance levels were so high, so we just need to try and get that monkey off our back by getting that first win.”
But Thomas, who has won 67 caps for Wales, said his team-mates must conquer their fear of failure and do all they can to finish on a high.
“I have been lucky to win trophies with Wales and Ospreys, but to pull ourselves out of this situation would be an absolutely massive achievement and one of the biggest in my career considering where we are in the league right now,” Thomas said.
“Sometimes there can be a fear of failure because of the nature of relegation but I think as players now we have got nothing to lose.
“Most people have written us off and most people see us as being already relegated so in a strange way the pressure is off as nobody expects us to come back.
“We have to go with that sort of mentality and give it our best shot and see where that takes us.”
