DIRECTOR of rugby Dean Ryan believes Worcester Warriors’ new-look back line has the ability to cause “mayhem” in the Greene King IPA Championship.
Fly half Ryan Lamb made his first appearance since the final game of last season when he played inside summer signing Ryan Mills on Friday night.
The pair, who were playing for the first time together in Worcester colours, made an immediate impact as they played a key role in Warriors’ 42-12 trouncing of Bedford Blues.
And Ryan said he was looking forward to seeing their partnership flourish this season as Warriors aim to keep their winning run going.
“Lamb is a great catalyst for things and having Mills outside of him helps him to do magic things with the ball,” he said.
“Bedford put a lot of pressure on Ryan (Lamb), but he still came up with stuff which I don’t think anyone else could have come up with. Ryan is a gifted ball handler, so we have got to get the best out of him.
“He will have a great relationship with Mills and we know on nights when we have got to move the ball that they have got the capabilities to do that.”
Ryan said he was delighted by how well his back line functioned, especially promising centre Max Stelling, as Warriors, who take on Plymouth Albion at Brickfields on Saturday, ran in six tries despite wet conditions.
“I think we had a real energy and were very clinical,” he said. “I thought the ball was difficult to hold on to yet we still looked pretty sharp.
“If that was a dry night, it would have been mayhem with the amount of breaks that we made.”
Ryan added: “I honestly think Max is right up there in terms of young English outside centres. There is nothing else like him who is 6ft 3in with great speed and hands.
“He has still got a lot of work to do but he is only 20 and now he has got Mills and Lamb inside him that should challenge him.”