Forwards Coach Phil Davies admitted a lack of accuracy had cost his Worcester Warriors as a final quarter surge from league champions Saracens saw them secure a 41-14 victory in the LV= Cup.
First half tries from Sam Betty and Tom Arscott ensured Worcester led 14-13 with an hour gone at Vicarage Road.
But the home side then scored three tries in just seven minutes – two from rugby league convert Joel Tomkins – to secure a bonus point win.
The result means Worcester cannot make the last four but Davies has called on his team to finish the campaign on a high next Saturday against Welsh giants Ospreys at Sixways before they return to Aviva Premiership rugby action.
“We were leading at the midpoint of the second half, but the last quarter of the game we lacked accuracy at the breakdown, with our handling and our kicking and if you do that, against a side like Saracens, you get blown away,” admitted Davies.
“We had a difficult last quarter as they capatilised with an intercept try and a couple of well worked tries to finish us off well.
“We will get back to work on Tuesday and have the full squad in – we will only have a few away on international duty. We will make a decision as to what type of team we will play against Ospreys, but we want momentum to go back into the league with Sale.
“I think we are in good shape. We are obviously very disappointed today, but the effort was good. We lacked accuracy and patience that let us down in the end.
“We want to try and win every game we play so we are not happy to be out of the competition,” he added. “We are trying to build a culture of winning and moving forward, we want to develop a squad that can win things and slowly but surely we are putting the blocks in place.
“This result is disappointing, but you have to give Saracens credit for finishing the game the way they did in the final quarter.
“We have to move forward and hopefully next week we will finish the competition on a high and then move into the Aviva Premiership in good shape.”
“We were leading at the midpoint of the second half, but the last quarter of the game we lacked accuracy at the breakdown, with our handling and our kicking and if you do that, against a side like Saracens, you get blown away…"