HEAD coach Jonathan Thomas insists his side "will not get carried away" after Worcester Warriors began their Gallagher Premiership campaign with a bonus-point win over London Irish at Sixways on Saturday.

Worcester responded to an early Irish try to score three of their own before the break, including a debut score for scrum-half Willi Heinz, before two more in the second-half secured the full five points.

Thomas said there is still much more to come from his side but acknowledged that winning the game was more important than the performance on opening day.

"First and foremost, starting with a win is important and the bonus point is the cherry on the cake," he said.

"It's a start but we won't get carried away with it at all, there is still a lot of growth to come from this team.

"It was messy at times but there was intent to play from both teams and with that comes mistakes and that's what we showed.

"Some of our leadership dragged us through that today and i thought Willi (Heinz) was exceptional.

"It's a win, were happy, but there's a lot more to come."

Irish scored the first try after jut four minutes but Warriors came back to scored three tries before the break to get themselves back in control.

Thomas was not overly content at half-time, despite the scoreline, and explained what was said in the changing rooms.

"My message to the players at half-time was that, when we kicked, we put them under pressure," he added.

"The first 25 minutes we over played and that led to errors so our message was don't get tired of doing basics well, which is what we did and what won us the game.

"There were a few errors late on but we will look at them ahead of quins next week."

Worcester have eight games in succession inside the first block of league fixtures and make the trip to face the reigning champions Harlequins next weekend.

The win did come at a marginal cost it would seem as Melani Nanai limped off at the beginning of the second-half but Thomas says it was more of a precautionary approach.

"Melani felt a little bit tight," he said.

"But we could have left him on but at such an early stage in the season, it's best to be cautious, the same with Willi (Heinz). We need to make sure we protect these kind of players and other than that, we have had no real injuries from today."

Overall it was a successful days work for the Warriors but the last word went to the fans and Thomas is hoping that more wins will encourage more to pack out Sixways.

"The supporters are the soul of this sport and our job and responsibility is to play well each week so that we fill this stadium, but the ones that were here were superb today."