EXPERIENCED lock Donncha O’Callaghan hailed Warriors’ victory over Saracens as one of his proudest moments wearing the jersey, but has urged his teammates to back the win up against Exeter on Saturday.
The Ireland international admitted it was a great feeling to beat the reigning Aviva Premiership and European champions, but insisted the players must step up from their ‘80 per cent’ performances, which he slammed as ‘embarrassing’.
The former British and Irish Lions player wants to see everyone ‘scrapping’ for the club as they enter the tail end of the campaign.
“It was a great feeling to beat the champions as we fronted up and played really well. I’m so proud of the lads. I think they’ll (Saracens) will be disappointed as they underperformed,” said the former Munster player.
“But to be honest, sometimes that’s what you need for things to go your way. I think we could have played better, but we got the result and now have to back it up on Saturday against Exeter.
“We haven’t been good at putting in consistent performances this season and we’ve been disappointing in terms of not putting in enough effort week in and week out. It’s been embarrassing.
“But now we have to back this win up. It’s down to the players to rock up on Saturday and improve on this last performance. We need to go beyond ourselves every week.
“We can’t afford to turn up and give 80 per cent. We need everyone scrapping and pulling their weight.”
In his first Premiership game in charge of Warriors, Director of Rugby Gary Gold chose the giant 6ft 6in lock to skipper the side against Saracens.
“It was a massive honour to captain the side. I was nervous all week after hearing I would be leading the team as it’s a huge responsibility. You feel the pressure of it as it means an awful lot.”