Seven different scorers shared the tries and with a clean sheet to boot, Hopley was quietly pleased with what he saw on Saturday afternoon.
“We’ve got quite a few players that had experience and exposure to the Academies League last year and they were very disappointed with the way that we started that campaign,” he told SaintsTV. “It’s one of the things they talked about in the team meeting before the game, starting well, putting themselves in the right places on the pitch.
“Conditions didn’t help with the lads playing into a strong wind in the first half but they adapted really well and scored some really good tries. It was a great squad effort from 1 to 23.
“It’s always pleasing to start the league with a win against a physical Worcester side, but there’s plenty for us to work on still moving forward.”
It took time for the Saints to break down a dogged Warriors side but having seen the visitors miss the first chance of points from the tee, their dominance was rewarded as Jordan Onojaife was mauled over from close range.
The next 10 minutes followed a similar pattern to the first, the Saints having pretty much all of the ball but not quite applying the finishing touch, that is until two tries in the space of eight minutes finally opened up a hard-earned gap.
First over was back row Ollie Lyons after Rotimi Segun brilliantly laid the groundwork, while an overthrown Warriors lineout was punished to the full extent by Josh Peters shortly after.
The scoring wasn’t done for the first half there, however, Segun again tearing through multiple tacklers inside his own half and this time going it alone for a stunning solo score on the left.
The Saints emerged for the second half and picked up where they left off, but while they continued to look after the ball well, three of the remaining four scores would come from turnover ball.
Cameron Lee-Everton started and finished a flowing move in tandem with Will Allman, having nicked loose ball from a Worcester scrum, and Onojaife doubled up with a carbon copy of his first after Lewis Ludlam took in the lineout.
Wing Austin Beckett proved too hot to handle on the counter as he coasted under the posts and the scoring was rounded off by Tristan Rawcliffe, the full back powering over on the end of a cheeky George Wacokecoke offload.
Harry Mallinder landed six points from the tee through gusting winds and just as pleasing for the Saints Academy coaches as the points on the board was a clean sheet that provides the perfect platform for their Academies League tilt.
TIMELINE
10mins SAINTS Try Onojaife 5-0
22mins SAINTS Try Lyons Con Mallinder 12-0
30mins SAINTS Try Peters 17-0
34mins SAINTS Try Segun 22-0
HALF-TIME SAINTS 22 WORCS 0
61mins SAINTS Try Onojaife Con Mallinder 34-0
65mins SAINTS Try Beckett Con Mallinder 41-0
69mins SAINTS Try Rawcliffe 46-0
FULL-TIME SAINTS 46 WORCS 0
SAINTS – Rawcliffe; Wacokecoke, Segun, Mallinder, Beckett; Sheppard, Lee-Everton; Eveleigh, Fish, Lamprell, Onojaife, Peters, Ludlam, Allman, Lyons
Reps – Golding, Byrne, Jeannot, Marshall, Cox, Morris, Defeo, Furbank
