LIVEWIRE scrum-half Francois Hougaard admitted he ‘thrived’ under the pressure of the Bristol clash and is proud of his teammates for ‘digging deep’ for the crucial win.
Hougaard scored a try and made an assist in Sunday’s six-try demolition of basement side Bristol, which leaves Warriors seven points ahead of their relegation rivals with just five games remaining in the campaign.
The South Africa international ran the show in front of an 11,499-capacity crowd at Sixways, which saw him make a sublime run to the tryline following a lineout, before making a break to set up Bryce Heem to dot down.
“For me, I thrive in this sort of environment. You’ll always be nervous going into a big game, but I make the pressure work for me,” said the Olympic bronze medallist.
“We tried to take the pressure put on us ahead of the game and use it as a positive. Obviously it was a big match, but we tried to see it as just another game. We stuck to what we knew and dug deep for the win.
“We manipulated them in the way we had worked hard on in all week in training. Gary Gold has given a clear message of what he wants from us. It comes down to heart and how badly we want it. He’s taking us in the right direction.
“We just need to take it week by week now and make sure we put in good performances. I’m not going to worry about relegation. I feel for them (Bristol). It’s never nice being at the bottom, but they’re a great side with great players, so all the best to them going forward,” he added.
The influential scrum-half admitted he is still learning how to improve his performances everyday.
“Even though I’ve play more than 30 Test matches for South Africa, I’m still learning everyday. You’re never good enough to stop learning and I always want to improve my game in every area,” he added.
“I’m loving my time here at Worcester. The club have a great bunch of guys and although it’s sad where we’re positioned in the table, we’ve got a really special thing going. Watch this space because I know we’re going big places.”