THE return of Will Butler and Isaac Miller from long-term injuries were bright spots in an otherwise gloomy night for Worcester Warriors who suffered their first European Challenge Cup defeat of the season at rain-lashed Pau.

Warriors lost 21-6 in France with two penalties from Jamie Shillcock putting them on the scoresheet.

Former New Zealand fly-half Colin Slade scored two tries and conversions for Pau with Julien Blanc going over late on and Antoine Hastoy adding the extras.

Centre Butler, a member of England’s squad at the last two World Under 20 Championships, made his first appearance in almost six months following his recovery from an elbow injury.

Hooker Miller, a summer signing from London Scottish, made his competitive debut after completing his rehabilitation from a dislocated collarbone sustained in the pre-season friendly in Treviso.

Both came off the bench, Butler first as a temporary replacement while Wynand Olivier was having a head injury assessment and Miller, out of position in the back row, after Matti Williams was injured late on.

“I got about 20 minutes in total. I will take what I can get pretty much but it was nice to have a bit of a run-out with the lads,” Butler said.

“It’s been annoying being on the sidelines. You want to be playing as much as you can. The rehab went well and my elbow held up pretty well so fingers crossed I get more game time in the coming months.

“There’s a lot of Cavaliers rugby and bit more European rugby to come. I will see if I can get back in that A League mix and get some 80 minutes in the bank.

“Apart from the Premiership Sevens it’s been six months since I last played. So for me it’s about just trying to play some rugby now.”

Butler could hardly have chosen a tougher match in which to make his comeback as Pau, smarting from four straight defeats in France’s Top 14 competition, packed their side with huge forwards and some equally hefty backs which meant another long shift in defence for Warriors.

Butler continued: “The weather conditions didn’t help. But we always knew it would be a physical game because Pau are a big bunch of boys.

“Coming away to France you always expect that. I thought we defended well and fronted up to the physicality but it just wasn’t our day and they pushed us over in the end.”

Warriors have an early opportunity to avenge Friday ‘s defeat as Pau visit Sixways on Saturday for the start of the second half of the pool stage of the competition.

“The fact that they come to Sixways next weekend is the best thing,” Butler said.

“We’ve got another big week of training. Back at home at Sixways it would be nice to get a win. Hopefully the conditions are a bit sunnier and we can play some nice running rugby.”

Miller’s return to fitness was well timed as Warriors were missing Joe Taufete’e who was still recovering from concussion suffered on international duty with USA Eagles.

“I was really pleased to be back on the pitch. The club have been good to me getting me back to full fitness so I was really chuffed to be out here with the lads,” Miller said.

“Pau had some big boys. We knew they were going to be big and they were going to be direct but I thought we fronted up really well. At times we made a hell of a lot of tackles so credit to the boys for their defensive effort.

“We have got so much depth in the squad at the moment. We are in a really good place, we’ve had some good results lately and it’s a really exciting place to be at the moment.”