SHIPPING 55 points at rivals Gloucester was “unacceptable”, admits Worcester Warriors head coach Carl Hogg.

He called Warriors’ display “very disappointing” and “very poor” after they crashed 55-19 at Kingsholm in a one-sided Aviva Premiership M5 derby.

“We were very disappointing and very poor,” said Hogg, who side are now just one point above improving bottom-club Bristol.

“We made three consecutive errors in the first three plays of the game and we were 17-0 down and always playing catch-up rugby off the back of that.

“Against Harlequins (a 24-17 win) we had high energy and were able to hold on to the ball in their 22, but we made too many fundamental errors in the first 20 minutes (against Gloucester) which put us behind the game.

“Regardless of trying to move yourself around, if you keep making mistakes you put yourself under pressure and concede.

“You are never going to get a foot-hold in the game.

“We have got to get back to work and look at it and we have to eliminate individual errors.

“Gloucester took their chances and you have to give them credit for that but a lot of the errors, especially in the first half, were of our own making.”

Warriors leaked seven tries in the match and Hogg acknowledged it was “too many” for a team fighting for Premiership survival.

“It’s far too many," said Hogg.

Asked why Warriors' defence struggled, Hogg replied: "Some of that comes from error, where you are putting yourself back in your 22 and then you are looking at people missing tackles or missing detail around some of our contact areas – it’s actually a combination of things.

“It’s something we work on during the week. It’s something we thought was there for long periods against Quins but it dropped off. Our errors in the first half allowed Gloucester to get off to a jump start and we were never able to recover from that position.

“There has been some serious words (in the dressing room). It’s very disappointing to come down here and ship 50-odd points – it’s unacceptable.”

Despite the pummelling, Warriors’ scrum and line-out function well but it was their fragile defensive structure in open play which Gloucester’s runners exploited.

Hogg said: “I thought (Alafoti) Fa’osiliva, (Phil) Dowson and Sammy Lewis worked hard but it was very much against the tide.

“We played a bit of catch-up rugby and Gloucester defended very well and forced errors and mistakes and it became a downward cycle.

"We did have chances but we weren’t clinical enough and we didn’t take our chances when they came along.”

Warriors now take a break from Premiership action before hosting Saracens on February 11 and Hogg is urging worried supporters to “stay patient”.

“(The fans need to) stay patient," said Hogg.

"Against Quins, I thought we saw a true representation of the group but this has been hugely disappointing. We were inaccurate and made too many errors.”