'Scary win' delights Hill

Warriors chief relieved to clinch promotion

Last updated: 18th May 2011   Subscribe to RSS Feed

'Scary win' delights Hill

Hill: Relishing Premiership challenge

We fell asleep a little bit, and the Pirates have some real talent. There were a few scary moments towards the end.

Richard Hill
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Worcester boss Richard Hill failed to hide his delight after watching his players clinch promotion to the Aviva Premiership at Sixways on Wednesday night.

Warriors' 25-20 Championship final second-leg victory over Cornish Pirates secured a 46-32 aggregate success and confirmed Leeds Carnegie's relegation from the Premiership.

Leeds, whose Premiership campaign ended with defeat against Heineken Cup finalists Northampton, would have stayed up had the Pirates prevailed.

But Worcester, the only Championship club able to meet the minimum Premiership entry criteria, finished the job in front of a club-record capacity 12,000 crowd, much to the relief of Hill.

Talent

"At 25-6 ahead, I was a little bit relaxed, and I think some of the players were too. But the Pirates came back - they are a good side," Hill said.

"Good luck to Leeds coming down into this league. There are some tough teams, and it is very hard to get out of it. We are relieved we have done, but it is a battle every single week.

"We fell asleep a little bit, and the Pirates have some real talent. There were a few scary moments towards the end.

"It was a scary game for us. The Pirates had nothing to lose, they could come here and throw the ball around."

Predatory wings Marcel Garvey and Miles Benjamin crossed early in each half, while Warriors' former Leicester and England number 10 Andy Goode notched 15 points through a breakaway try, a drop-goal, a penalty and two conversions.

Full-back Rob Cook kicked two penalties for the Pirates and added conversions to centre Drew Locke's score and a late penalty try.

Scary

Hill added: "We've started thinking about next season. The Premiership is an uncompromising league, and we have got some work to do in the summer.

"But the confidence we will get from winning constantly this season is important. We need to take it and bottle it up.

"We will go in on a high, as the likes of Northampton and Harlequins have done in recent years. We will feel good about ourselves, but the hard work will start on June 20.

"Overall, I think we were the best team in the league, but it's still scary. You can slip up - there are so many potential pitfalls.

"It's not an easy league to get out of, and it is getting stronger every year.

"We didn't want to be in this league next year. The longer you are in it, the harder it is to get out."

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