It is barely October but there is already foreboding in the autumnal air. That, at least, is the general view as Worcester and Harlequins, the bottom two sides in the fledgling Zurich Premiership table, prepare to slug it out today. The contest may be at Sixways but, say the cynics, the only way is down for the losers.
Even Andy Keast, Worcester's head coach, concedes it is "a massive game" for all concerned. Keast has been on the coaching beat long enough - Met Police, Harlequins, Natal, London Irish, Gloucester and now the Warriors - to know that English relegation issues are not settled before the clocks go back. But he also knows that any club adrift at Christmas is fighting a savage rip tide.
Today, therefore, Worcester must ignore the fruit that adorns their club crest and prove their season is not going pear-shaped. Not for nothing did their owner Cecil Duckworth visit the office shared by Keast and the director of rugby John Brain last Wednesday for an unscheduled meeting; four defeats in the opening four games, the same sickly record as Quins, constitutes a seriously black September.
If the running repairs being undertaken in the gents toilets also suggested a hint of pre-match apprehension, last Friday's 57-3 defeat at Sale was a result to loosen anyone's bowels. "It was a train smash," admits Keast bluntly of his side's eight-try wipeout. "I think the only person who hasn't been affected is my two-year-old son. He's still smiling when I go home but no one else is."
As the son of a Dartmouth-based Royal Marine himself, however, Keast did not grow up believing in lost causes. When people ask if he and Brain are the right men to instill a winning mentality, he has only to point at the framed picture in reception celebrating last year's rare promotion achievement of 26 wins from 26 games. No wonder the Sale result came as a shock.
Worst of all, according to Keast, were the reminders over the public address that no Premiership side had been beaten by such a margin since 2001. "Those words are still ringing in my ears and it's certainly driving me on," added Keast. The fact he used to be Quins' director of rugby, helping steer the London club to third position in 1997 before departing the following season, gives this weekend additional spice.
And just to rub it in, every fibre of Keast's diminutive frame believes the rest of the country should be rooting for Worcester. He was less than impressed by Rob Andrew's tart comments about the Warriors' opening-day efforts - "I still think there's got to be a degree of humility in victory" - and will shed no tears if his promoted upstarts upset the old established order.
"There's a lot of people hoping we do well because that will either test the system or change it. Harlequins have got fantastic tradition and are an established Premiership team, but if we win they could come bottom of the league. That rocks the boat, doesn't it?"
In his view, regardless of the big off-field strides made by Quins, Worcester will be doing the game a favour if they can overcome the closed-shop arrangement under which promoted clubs receive less funding than their 11 rivals.
First, though, they must avoid "doing a Rotherham" and make themselves competitive. Cruelly they have been without two injured first-choice props but Keast, a highly rated tactical analyst on the successful 1997 Lions tour to South Africa, reckons the lineout is improving. The narrow 26-22 home defeat by Bath a fortnight ago also offered some encouragement. "Not being rude to Bath but we threw the game away by giving them 14 soft points," he insists, a hint of Devon-accented frustration in his voice.
A handful of missed tackles, though, have not eroded the desire of a club whose training facilities match the best in the league. "It means something to everybody, from the chairman down to Ray the kit man," says Keast, whose coaching CV also includes taking Natal to the Super 10 final and winning the Currie Cup. "What you've got to be is mature and strong-willed. You've got to try and steer the ship in the right way and be positive. That's not burying your head in sand. We don't believe in that. What we've always said is that, win lose or draw, we'll always analyse the performance and improve. We'll still do that if we win 57-3."
Professional pride will also fuel the likes of Pat Sanderson and Ben Gollings against their former Quins team-mates, not least because the next eight days are critical to the basement equation. If Quins beat the Warriors and Leeds do likewise at Headingley next week, there will be little to bolster Worcester's morale against the heavyweight packs of Gloucester, Leicester, Northampton and Wasps over the next two months.
Keast is at least cheerfully realistic - "We'd settle for 11th place, without a doubt" - and his 14 years in senior coaching (he used to be a full-back at Met Police until a back injury ended his playing career) have also forged a strong survival instinct.
"What keeps me in coaching is something I remember Bobby Robson once saying. If you're not doing it, you don't have the same buzz going around Tesco's on a Saturday morning.
"I also hate losing. That's what drives you to make the team better. If we're still losing by January then, yes, it's probably decided then. But you don't actually go down until the end of April and until then we'll be fighting. We are realists but we're not downhearted."
Perhaps that club emblem should be a prickly pear.
