'People have a perception about us... results like this will change it'

Worcester club captain Ted Hill believes his side are changing perceptions about the club after their narrow 32-31 Gallagher Premiership victory over Wasps highlighted their improvement since October’s 66-point drubbing at Northampton.

That defeat prompted the recruitment of Steve Diamond as lead rugby consultant and since, the Warriors have lost one of their four league matches and put 68 points past Bristol in the Premiership Cup having won just one game all last season.

“We are putting some results together and that breeds confidence,” said Hill. “We know we still have a lot to do, but we are moving in the right direction.

“It is a reflection of all the hard work everyone is putting in and it is good that we are climbing the table.

“People have a perception about us when it comes to the league and results like this will change it.”

Worcester switch their attention to the European Challenge Cup. They start their campaign at Newcastle on Friday night having secured a league draw there last weekend.

“It is a competition we are taking seriously,” said head coach Jonathan Thomas.

“It is important that we keep winning matches and what pleased me most about this win was the way we dug in against the wind in the second half.

“It was a real collective effort and the next step for us is to achieve consistency. The game showed there are still things to work on for us, but we are moving up the table.”

Wasps were left to reflect on another narrow defeat in a high scoring game following the previous week’s 35-33 loss to Gloucester when they made another late comeback.

They were 18 points down with 30 minutes to go at Worcester and had the chance to win with Jimmy Gopperth’s late conversion.

“Errors cost us,” said hooker Dan Frost, who scored two of his side’s five tries.

“We had problems in the scrum and overall we were not good enough. We cannot sulk but have to wake up and make it better.”

Wasps conceded their first two tries while attacking Worcester’s 22 and head coach Lee Blackett is concerned about the way they are starting matches.

“We gave ourselves a lot to do today and against Gloucester,” he said. “We came close to winning both matches and taking 10 points rather than four, but we have to look at how we are starting matches.”

Blackett had no complaints about Worcester wing Melani Nanai’s early yellow card rather than a red following a clash of heads as he challenged his opposite number Josh Bassett, who left the field for assessment.

“I think it was the right decision,” he said.