Head Coach Richard Hill conceded his Worcester Warriors were the masters of their own demise as a high penalty and error count saw them suffer a first defeat of the Aviva Premiership season to Gloucester Rugby at Kingsholm.
Local rivals Gloucester secured the derby day win thanks to tries from Jonny May and Tom Voyce plus a solid kicking display from Tim Taylor.
However, Hill knew his team only had themselves to blame as indiscipline – that saw Marcel Garvey yellow carded – meant the hosts had taken control by half-time.
“It was a poor show by us and we shot ourselves in the foot in first half to go 19-3 down,” said Hill.
“You won’t get a better chance to beat Gloucester at Kingsholm with the team they had out. They had players unavailable and injuries, with James Simpson-Daniel a late withdrawal and Alex Brown out. It was a great time to come here and take their record.
“But in the first half we gave away too many penalties, suffered a lot of unforced errors and even threw in an intercept try. If you looked at the balance of play we had more possession, but we made way too many errors.
“There were a lot of silly penalties in the forwards. Our defence is good and we have got to trust it. I cannot understand why we want to concede penalties like that.
“Initially we had some positive exchanges with them in the set piece and they got penalised. But we didn’t dominate as we should have done. We expect to be better at the lineout drive and better at the scrum.
“We lacked intensity. Apart from making the errors, we lacked the pace and intensity in the first half and Gloucester were a lot sharper then we were. We have got to be better than that.”
Hill also defended fly half Joe Carlisle who was given the nod ahead of Andy Goode but had a difficult afternoon in front of the Shed.
““There was a lot of pressure at Kingsholm, it is a difficult place for a ten because you get no mercy, but I know he is better than that,” said Hill.
“Joe deserved a go today. He was unlucky not to be selected for the first league game because he had such a good pre-season. All the squad is equally comfortable with either Joe Carlisle or Andy Goode starting at fly half.
“He didn’t have his best game, he will be the first to admit that, but there is no panic or drama. He will learn from that and aim to get better next time.”