Dave Porecki says London Irish used their shock defeat at Yorkshire Carnegie as a catalyst for change for the title run-in.
The Exiles were beaten 26-12 earlier in the month but after a two-week break, returned to sweep aside Doncaster Knights 49-12 in the St Patrick’s Party on Saturday to stay eight points clear of Ealing with just four games to play.
And Porecki, who scored at the weekend on his 50th appearance for the club, says the loss at Headingley gave London Irish a new focus in training.
“You can take the benefits of a loss in that way because it really exposes where we can improve,” he told The Wokingham Paper.
“Obviously we don’t want to lose at all this year, no-one ever does, but it can be a force for change.
“Coming into the Doncaster game we just wanted to play with a bit more variation, break these teams down instead of just trucking up, which is what they want.
“I definitely think we’re adding some strings to our bow. I know there’s only four games left, but we’d rather be doing it now and finish very strong.”
The game against Doncaster was locked at 0-0 after the opening 20 minutes as the visitors dug in to quieten down the 10,000 strong crowd.
But the party mood was soon restored through Ben Loader’s brilliant try just before half-time and then Porecki’s score within five minutes of the restart to open up a healthy lead, before a late flurry to add some gloss to the victory.
“I think Ben Loader’s try going into half-time definitely helped psychology wise just getting an edge,” said Porecki.
“Teams focus on those 10 minutes either side of half-time. In the 10 minutes going into half-time we were lucky to score and in the 10 minutes after half-time you’ve just got to keep the pressure because if they get a couple of tries, they get a sniff.
“And that’s when we have an issue because we start to panic. But us as a playing group, we need to know how to manage these times in the game that are actually crucial that you probably don’t think about as an outsider, but in terms of playing out there, you need to keep the pressure on and that’s the way we did it on Saturday.”
Porecki has enjoyed a prolific season in terms of tries, taking his tally into double figures when we crossed against Doncaster.
And the Aussie, who joined Irish in 2016, says he is loving life at Hazelwood.
“I’ve been lucky enough to be at the back of some mauls this year,” he said.
“We’ve had a pretty decent maul so I’ve just been patient and waited for my time and just credit to the boys because they’re doing the hard yards to get us going forwards.
“For my 50th I’m stoked. I love this club, I think we’ve got a lot of potential as a playing group as well.”
