BACKS coach Sam Vesty says Worcester Warriors’ youngsters and fringe players are “champing at the bit” to “lay a marker down” in the European Challenge Cup.

Warriors begin their campaign with a long trip to Moscow to face Enisei-STM at the Slava Stadium on Saturday (3pm).

Pool B has also pitted Worcester against Top 14 outfit Brive, who they will tackle at Sixways the following Saturday (3pm), and Pro 12 side Newport Gwent Dragons.

Last season, Warriors finished bottom of their group with the only win coming against La Rochelle and Vesty, who has stepped up to manage the side, said they were determined to do better this term.

However, he insisted they will continue to use the competition as a platform for players "on the edges” of the first team to stake their claim.

“We want to go out there, attack some really good opposition and test our younger players out at a level they are probably not used to,” he said.

“There are senior players in the squad as well, so we will use it to get people that next step along the ladder.

“But we absolutely see us being competitive in it.”

Andrew Kitchener, 20, Will Butler, 18, and Huw Taylor, 20, are among a number of academy aces who have been named in Warriors’ European squad.

It also features Sam Betty, 29, Andy Short, 25, and Matt Cox, 28, who will be keen to press their case.

Vesty continued: “We want to go one better (than last year). Last year was a difficult competition for us.

“We tried to play a bit and every week we turned up it was raining and we didn’t quite adapt to the conditions but we learnt so much from that.

“A lot of those guys are now in the first team and playing really well, so it did a job.”

Young guns Perry Humphreys, Jamie Shillcock, Dean Hammond and Josh Adams have already made their mark in the Aviva Premiership this term.

And Vesty said the quartet have fuelled the club’s other promising players’ desire to grasp their opportunity.

“We are attacking it with a younger group and some players who have been on the edges of the first team,” he said.

“It’s another opportunity to lay a marker down and these boys are champing at the bit as they have seen what happens if you get an opportunity and you take it, like Perry, Dean, Josh and Shilly have done.

“So the other guys will see this competition as their opportunity.

“It’s been a long pre-season for a few of them, playing in A League games, so now they have actually got their chance they are really looking forward to it.”