On the heels of Saturday’s amazing 41-31 comeback win over the visiting Chicago Hounds, the Utah Warriors find themselves in great position midway through their toughest stretch of the season.
Players are upbeat and positive regarding what they’ve been able to accomplish as they prepare to take on the San Diego Legion (6-4) on Wednesday night at Zions Bank Stadium. The game presents an opportunity for Utah (7-2) to gain first place in the entire Major League Rugby Competition while winning its fourth straight match.
So how does Warriors Coach Greg Cooper keep his team balanced and focused on the task of continued improvement? As he was quick to point out during Monday’s press conference, there’s plenty to work on still, most notably the final minutes of last Saturday’s first half which saw the Hounds forge a 31-0 run.
“We focus on those 20 minutes,” Cooper said. “There’s always work to be done and that’s one of the big things we addressed today.”
But what Cooper has learned about his team is that they adhere well to his instruction. The Warriors have shown marked improvements with just about every game played this season and will work to do so again come Saturday.
“The positive of all that is that if we seem to have an issue, we address it and then fix it,” Cooper confirmed.
Helping out with those tasks has been a group of ready and willing players who have stepped up to play key roles. Due to this week’s compressed set of matches, Cooper has had to expand his roster of players used in game time situations where players like Reid Davis made his first start and Lance Williams made his first appearance of the season against the Hounds and responded very well.
“I think that’s the beauty of this team at the moment,” Cooper said. “We are getting players who haven’t gotten a lot of playing time to step up and this week’s about that. There’s no question about it.”
Also helping the cause are players like Saia ‘Uhila, Matt Jensen, Paul Lasike and Williams, all of who were with the Warriors during their very first season. Those four veterans have worked well in establishing a strong culture and acclimating a roster full of players playing their first year in Utah on how things are done.
“We had the four players that were there in year one being involved and having a big involvement,” Cooper said.
With regards to San Diego, Cooper expects a tough challenge. Sure, the Warriors defeated the Legion just over a week ago 31-18 on the road, but Cooper expects an even tougher challenge come Wednesday night.
“They’re going to be gunning for us,” Cooper said. “We’re close in the standings and if we can get a win and pull away from them, it makes it not necessarily easier because we have to play one game at a time, but it puts us in a positive track.”
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