DIRECTOR of rugby Dean Ryan admitted he is concerned with Worcester Warriors’ line-out and some of the players’ decision-making in defence.

Ryan is preparing newly-promoted Warriors for their Aviva Premiership return which opens with a home clash against Northampton Saints on October 16.

Warriors performed well in patches in last Saturday’s 52-30 defeat against Midlands rivals Wasps in an entertaining warm-up match at Sixways.

“It’s pre-season and we will be concentrating on going for 22 league games and trying to get better,” said Ryan.

“Against Wasps was the first time we had played after pre-season and we can now have a look at how we get better.

“There are a lot of things we can do differently.

“Around the half-time mark was a decent reflection of the game with us giving away a couple of tries which was probably down to naivety.

“There was a little bit of concern around line-out and a little bit of concern about naivety in our own half.

“If you make a mistake at this level it probably costs you seven points from turnover ball, especially against a side like Wasps.”

Ryan added: “I was really pleased with our effort and application.

“We looked quite lively and we now know what the concerns are.”

Wasps led 24-10 at the interval and scored seven tries altogether as they showed their Premiership class.

Warriors continue their build up to the new campaign with a development fixture against Saracens at Bramley Road on Saturday (1pm).

“We weren’t going to be able to learn from a Championship crusade and bring that into the Premiership,” said Ryan.

“We are going to have to put ourselves into it, make sure our effort is right out of the top level and learn lessons as we go along.

“Our success over 22 games will be determined by how much we learn and not what we know going into the competition.”

He added: “It is probably a mixed bag at the moment but we know what we’re working with.

“Now we have to get on and fix some of the things.

“I think people watching can see a really positive Worcester side.

“We had high energy and for the first 15 to 20 minutes against Wasps and if we had held field position I think we would have posed some problems.

“The fact was we didn’t and we have to learn from that,” said Ryan.

“Every time we went to the half-way line we lost the lineout so that is an issue to be sorted.

“The Premiership is very attritional and we will see if we can learn from being in it.”