FRANCO VAN DER MERWE insists dropping to the foot of the Aviva Premiership table has not affected the players at London Irish.
The Exiles slipped to the bottom for the first time all season following their weekend defeat to Bath coupled with victory for previously 12th-placed Worcester Warriors.
But van der Merwe says their eyes are on improving their own performances rather than worrying about the table.
“It’s inevitable, you can’t miss it (the table). We know about it, but we’re not focussing on not to get relegated,” he told The Wokingham Paper.
“We’re focussing on doing well in this competition and playing the way we want to play.
“I can’t talk for everyone but by the way we prepared for the game and the warm-up, there was no talk about it, nothing was mentioned.
“We knew that we had to play well and we can’t control what other teams are doing so we can only control what’s happening on the day.”
He added: “I truly believe that with the coaches we’ve got and the management, they want to have the focus in the right areas.
“We don’t want to focus on just being in last spot and where we are in the table but really play the way we want to play.
“That we can control – the system and the structure.
“If Worcester go and beat everyone now until the end of the season, we can’t control that.
“Maybe (being bottom) could be in the back of the minds of some of the guys, but I doubt it because there’s a very positive energy and vibe at the club and we just take it game by game.”
After going agonisingly close to victory over Bath, stopped just before the try-line in the closing stages in a 22-18 defeat on Sunday, Irish are at the Mad Stad again this Sunday.
They welcome mid-table Wasps (3pm), who impressively beat Newcastle Falcons 40-10 last weekend.
And van der Merwe says Exiles must be on their game defensively.
“Wasps are a very good team,” he said.
“They had a good game on the weekend as well.
“They’ve got some brilliant back-line players and some electric pace at the back, so we need to be on the money in terms of defence.
“But it’s a home game and even looking at the previous game, there’s still a lot of fans coming to the game and we really appreciate that and we’re thankful for that.
“It would be nice to give them something back in terms of a result this weekend.”
Meanwhile, two more London Irish stars have extended their contracts.
Exciting centre Johnny Williams and forward Max Northcote-Green have put pen-to-paper on new deals, following in the footsteps of Ollie Hoskins, Sebastian De Chaves, Harry Elrington and Dave Porecki.
Don’t miss your FREE London Irish squad photo in this week’s Wokingham Paper, out now!
