DIRECTOR of rugby Dean Ryan believes Worcester Warriors are perfectly poised for a stirring second half of the season as they attempt to avoid relegation.
Saturday’s 26-8 defeat to Aviva Premiership leaders Saracens, which saw Worcester leak four tries in the opening 30 minutes, was their 11th successive loss of the campaign.
The result also leaves winless Warriors ten points behind second bottom London Irish, who they take on in a must-win clash at the Madejski Stadium on Saturday (3pm).
However, Ryan said his side were growing in confidence and were showing signs that they can turn their fortunes around in 2014 having held Saracens to a scoreless second half at Sixways.
“I feel we are in the best place we could be to face the challenges we have got and I am not trying to create a smokescreen,” Ryan said.
“We know where we are and we know the challenges we face over the next 11 games. We are halfway through the league now and I think looking back the first four or five weeks let us down.
“But we have found out a lot about ourselves and we have found out the people who want to do something for this club.
“You can see we are in a different place and let’s see how others cope with us now as we come into 2014 because for the last six weeks we have been competitive against the top end of the league.
“We are not fading in the last 10 or 15 minutes now and we are not losing our way, so we are learning and we are getting better.
“We have got a big challenge to face, but we are gaining confidence.”
Ryan also revealed scrum half Jonny Arr could be in contention for a place against Irish following his recovery from a hamstring problem.
“We have lost Jonny for the first half of the season, but hopefully he’ll be back on the scene next week and hopefully a couple of the centres might show as well,” Ryan added.
“We have got serious injury problems, but we have not dwelled on it as the guys who have been thrown in have conducted themselves fantastically.”