Ruddock remains defiant

Worcester boss Mike Ruddock insists his players are not dispirited in their increasingly grim fight for Guinness Premiership survival.

The Warriors remain three points adrift at the Premiership basement following a 23-13 defeat against Sixways visitors London Irish. They have just three games left - including an away appointment with 11th-placed Leeds Carnegie on April 25 - and Ruddock remains defiant.

"We talked about having four battles ahead of us. We've lost the first one, and we need to regroup for the next one," he said.

"We are not dispirited. The effort is there, the spirit is there, which gives me hope we can get ourselves out of the pickle we are in.

"It's just that little bit of precision we have missed this season, and some of the errors we made went against us.

"I thought we put a good effort in, but we weren't quite good enough against a good Irish team.

"There is tons of spirit in this (Worcester) team to do well. At the end of the day, all I can ask is for the players to go out and give 100%."