WARRIORS flanker Carl Kirwan insists his side want the Aviva Premiership’s top teams to respect them ahead of their final game of the season against Saracens.
The club host Sarries, who are top of the Premiership table, this Saturday at Sixways and the Durham-born player believes if his side are to progress and move up the table next season, they must take some big scalps.
“We want to test ourselves against the best and we want the best to respect us,” said the 25-year-old.
“We can only do that by going out and putting on a decent performance. By matching Saracens physically we can make them think twice about who the Worcester Warriors are.
“We want to finish the campaign on a winning note. Next season we want to achieve more and finish higher in the league and we’re only going to do that by taking out teams like Saracens, so that’s the goal on Saturday,” he added.
Kirwan has been one of Warriors’ success stories this season, having worked his way into the first team after being restricted to Aviva A League and European Challenge Cup appearances earlier in the campaign.
And the all-action back row insists it’s a sense of hard work paying off.
“I knew the strength and depth of the squad when I arrived at Sixways, especially in the back row,” he added.
“I knew it’d be hard but I just came in and got my head down. As a professional sportsman you always want to play and train your hardest to try and better yourself.
“The A League was important. In one of the games against Sale they pretty much had a Premiership backline, so it’s always good to play against sides with that kind of talent at that level.
“When I finally got my chance in the first team it was the hard work paying off. It was great to get the opportunity to start in the Premiership and I’ve just been trying to move forward ever since.”