WORCESTER Warriors backs coach Sam Vesty insists he is proud of his young squad despite their narrow 19-12 defeat to Enisei-STM in Moscow.

The former England international, who has taken charge of the Warriors squad for the European Challenge Cup campaign, revealed his frustration at not coming away with the win but praised his youngsters with Saturday's 23-man squad averaging just 22 years of age.

He said: “I’m frustrated not to come away with the win but I’m proud of what our young group put out there on the pitch against what was a big, strong Russian side.

“We were out-muscled at vital periods of the game and I think that’s what cost us in the end.

“Considering we had five guys making debuts and a back-line finishing with almost nobody in their proper position, there were some real positives as we did create a number of chances to win that game but it’s just frustrating that we didn’t finish them off.

“It wasn’t a great start but we created opportunities throughout and we did well to manage the momentum back off of them in the first-half, to get on the scoreboard and to have some territory and possession.

“It was an old school game on a dirt track, small pitch against a very powerful side and it’s all about exerting pressure on the opposition.

"If you spend several minutes with the ball in your opponents’ half good things will happen but we just let a few mistakes in at crucial times and coughed up chances that if you take then the result probably looks after itself."

Warriors have committed to playing their youngsters in Europe and, after the likes of Will Butler, Zac Xiourouppa, Andrew Kitchener and Jack Singleton all made their debuts in Russia, Vesty insists they will have learnt a lot from the experience.

He explained: “They will have learnt a lot. A lot of those young guys playing modern-day rugby will have learnt playing at some nice places where they’ve got fast tracks and the changing rooms are good and they’re looked after.

“It’s a great learning curve to come away to somewhere like this where things are different, where everyone learns a lot about themselves and what rugby is all about.

"If you take away all the glitz and the glamour, this is what you get so it’s been a great learning tool for everyone.

“These boys will get more opportunities across the competition. We’ve reaped the benefits of this in the past and entertaining Brive at home on Saturday is another different opportunity for them.

“Part of growing up and being a good rugby player is being adaptable. As an academy youngster, to get a chance to play a French side or a Russian side is very different from playing other academies so it’s great for their development.”

Warriors host French Top 14 side Brive at Sixways on Saturday (3pm) and Vesty knows his young troops will need to be well prepared for the clash.

He added: “We’ve done a bit of homework already. Brive have got a big set of powerful forwards and they’re very French in the way they move and kick the ball.

"It could be a very slow game one minute and then suddenly it could become fast and furious. They have some individuals who can cause some mayhem so they’ll be dangerous.”