Chris Pennell encouraged by Warriors performance

Worcester Warriors full-back Chris Pennell is encouraged by his side’s performance against Saracens despite losing to the champions at the weekend.

Sarries had to work hard to claim a 25-17 win at Allianz Park on Saturday and Pennell feels the Warriors rediscovered their “mojo” after an excellent first-half showing in which they raced into a 14-0 lead and led 17-11 at half-time.

Their performance was in stark contrast to the one they delivered in their previous match – a 32-6 home defeat to Northampton Saints.

“We were obviously really disappointed with the way we played against Northampton,” he told Worcester News.

“Saturday was about coming out and getting back to enjoying our rugby.

“We like to play and move the ball as we have got dangerous players all over the park that can make bursts.

“We gave ourselves that opportunity whereas the previous week maybe due to the conditions or we were a little bit low on confidence for whatever reason we didn’t do that.

“On Saturday we regained a little bit of that mojo.”

Worcester are currently languishing in 11th position on the Premiership table and are only above bottom-placed Newcastle Falcons due to a superior points difference.

Pennell hailed his side’s start against Saracens where two early tries from fly-half Duncan Weir and inside centre Ben Te’o put the champions on the back foot.

“I thought we played heads-up rugby so when it was on to run we went for it which I think is to do with confidence,” added the 31-year-old.

“Last weekend for whatever reason we weren’t quite as sharp as we needed to be.

“At Saracens we saw the opportunities and took them and kicked the ball when we needed to.

“I thought our nine and 10 controlled the game exceptionally well in the first half.

“We are given the licence to play what we see and on a day like Saturday it was perfect conditions to do so.”