Worcester director of rugby Mike Ruddock revealed his players were an "angry" bunch after slipping to a 19-6 defeat to Saracens at Vicarage Road yesterday.

An error-strewn display by the Warriors saw them condemned to a loss which keeps them looking nervously over their shoulders at Leeds Carnegie - the only team below them in the Guinness Premiership.

"We didn't play well. We had a week off, but so did Saracens, and so we can't use that as an excuse," he said.

"The best team won on the day but I don't think Saracens played to the level they are capable of either.

"We certainly didn't play to our potential, but we'll dust ourselves down and get ourselves right for next week.

"We slipped back into old way with basic mistakes letting us down. Things that were haunting us earlier in the season re-emerged. Towards the end we saw what the Warriors are capable of, but it wasn't enough.

"The crucial thing was that we didn't score when they were a man down and they got their try when we were.

"There's an angry group of men in there who know they didn't play as well as they can and I think they will use that as a motivation to come out with all guns blazing next week."

Saracens counterpart Alan Gaffney was not surprised that his high-flying side had to work hard to beat Worcester despite their lowly position.

Sarries' only try came from hooker Fabio Ongaro early in the second-half and was added to Glen Jackson's conversion and four penalties, while Worcester stand-off Loki Crichton landed an 80-second drop goal and one penalty.

"We came here expecting a hard game and that's not a trite statement," said Gaffney, whose team are fourth in the Guinness Premiership, Heineken Cup quarter-finalists and EDF Energy Cup semi-finalists.

"We've battled against Worcester for two seasons and not too many sides put them away comfortably.

"We came back from a week's break and were a bit sloppy in training, then took that on to the pitch.

"But at least after talking at half-time we came out and played the way we wanted - for 20 minutes."

The match was the only game in the Premiership yesterday after Wasps' clash with Sale at Adams Park was postponed due to a partly-frozen pitch.

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