FLY-HALF Tom Heathcote believes the club can secure the shock scalp of Saracens if the players win their key individual battles.
Warriors fell to a 48-18 defeat at the hands of the eventual league and European Champions Cup winners at the home of rugby last November, but the Inverness-born player insists his teammates have learnt from their previous encounter ahead of Saturday’s curtain-raiser to the new season.
“We had a good basic game-plan last year but we want to build on that this Saturday,” said the former Edinburgh Rugby fly-half.
“Adding the little things and putting the focus on individuals improving their one-on-one battles, whether that’s carrying or tackling, is key and can give us the edge.
“It’s going to be a massive challenge for us. They taught us a lesson in both games last season and this weekend will be a real guide for us to see where we’re at.
“We’ve learnt how clinical the top sides are in this league. They take their chances and put pressure on you.
“Saracens are very good at all the little things, so those are some of the lessons we took away and have worked on in pre-season.”
Heathcote also believes the club are now in position to turn close contests into wins, after missing out on a handful last campaign.
“We know how competitive it is in the Aviva Premiership. It’s a tough league, but it’s like that because there’s such small margins between teams,” he added.
“If we can get marginal gains and put them all together, that could be the difference between finishing at the bottom of the table or top half.
“We had a number of games last season which we could have potentially won, but only took losing bonus points. If we can convert those games into wins, we’ll be where we want to be.”