DIRECTOR of rugby Alan Solomons insisted his Worcester Warriors troops were “outmuscled” and “outplayed” by a brilliant Bath side at Sixways.

Todd Blackadder’s men proved too strong for Warriors as they ran in six tries in an emphatic 46-25 Aviva Premiership victory.

Worcester missed numerous tackles on the night and Solomons admitted they were made the price for their mistakes.

But he was also willing to hold his hands up and say Warriors were beaten by the better side as Bath underlined their top-four credentials.

“Bath outmuscled us and dominated the game,” Solomons said.

“Based on that performance Bath are a really good side. They played really well and in those first 15 minutes we made one or two littles errors and they made us pay for them.

“We managed to get back into it in the next 15 or 16 minutes but the momentum then swung again as they scored either side of half-time.

“We made little territory and did not have a lot of possession.

“We had one little spell, but we needed to get into their half, get our hands on the ball and hold on to it.

“Unfortunately, we were unable to do that.”

Paul Grant’s 34th minute try was the difference at the break as Bath led 13-6 before powering to victory in the second period.

Matt Garvey, Anthony Watson and James Phillips went over before Kahn Fotuali’i struck twice to wrap up the maximum point win.

Warriors rallied as David Denton, Joe Taufete’e and Perry Humphreys crossed but they were unable to salvage a try-bonus point.

“We came quite close towards the end,” Solomons added.

“We probably did not have enough time on the clock to be able to get the bonus point.

“But it was a positive to see the guys continue to try.

“As we were playing catch-up you compound your own position, you make errors and there were one or two soft tries that we gave away in the second half.

“At least we kept going, trying for that fourth try, but on the night we have got to hold our hands up and say we were outplayed.

“Bath were bound to come right at some point and everything clicked for them on Friday night.

“Obviously we feel we can compete with any side in this competition, but Bath were just the better side.”

Bath's director of rugby Blackadder was also delighted by his side’s impressive display as they bounced back after defeats to Sale Sharks and Wasps.

“We did the simple things really well,” Blackadder said.

“I thought our physicality at the breakdown and our defence was outstanding.

“We took on board the lessons that we have learnt over the last couple of weeks, so it was a great response.

“We lacked a bit of physicality against Sale and Wasps.

“But qe worked at it and I thought we were smart the way we went about our work and it paid dividends.

“I am really proud of that performance and to get the bonus point on the back of a really good attack. We can look forward now.”