Rugby Union
Warriors desperate to reach last eight

Buy photos » Head coach Richard Hill. Picture by Ian Smith.

HEAD coach Richard Hill has urged his players to secure maximum points against USA Perpignan tonight (Thursday, 7.45pm) as Worcester Warriors aim to strengthen their chances of progressing in the Amlin Challenge Cup.

Both sides know the clash at Sixways and next week's reverse fixture at Perpignan will determine who will be in pole position in Pool Two to clinch a place in the quarter-finals after easing past minnows Femi-CZ VEA Rovigo and Bizkaia Gernika RT.

And Hill, who has made just one change to the side that faced Harlequins last Friday, with prop Euan Murray set to make his first appearance at Sixways, is determined to make sure they are in the best position possible ahead of their visit to the French giants.

"We are desperate to get into the quarter-finals and we are top of the group at the moment and have a really tough task against a powerful French team," Hill said. "They have a quick turnaround as they travel over on Wednesday and play Thursday night so we have got to hit them with everything we can in this first game.

"It’s important we put a marker down here and ideally we would want a bonus point. We are both closely matched so it’s going to come down to points difference or bonus points. We will aim to stop them picking anything up off us. Four tries would put us in a very strong position."

Warriors' side to face USA Perpignan: Pennell, Walker, Grove, Matavesi, Lemi, Goode, Hodgson, Jones, Shervington, Murray, Percival (c), Jones, Best, Kvesic, Taulava

Replacements: Lutui, O'Donnell, Andress, Schofield, Betty, Arr, Claassens, Short

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