HEAD coach Rory Duncan reckons his players are “becoming part of something special” after Worcester Warriors pulled off another remarkable fightback to beat Stade Francais 36-31 at Sixways.

Warriors needed a bonus-point triumph to guarantee a home quarter-final in the European Challenge but it was the visitors who bagged four tries in a disappointing first half.

Stade led 28-14 at the break but Worcester’s never-say-die attitude shone through in the second period as Sam Lewis went over before the hosts notched three tries in the last six minutes.

Ollie Lawrence produced a stunning finish and Tom Howe grabbed his second before Dean Hammond crossed in the dying seconds to seal victory.

Warriors can now look forward to hosting a last-eight tie against Harlequins on the final weekend of March.

“In the past couple of weeks we have shown really good fight,” said Duncan whose side also fought back to edge Bath and Ospreys in late thrillers this month.

“The guys have this never-say-die attitude.

“Credit to the players just for the effort they have made from a conditioning perspective.

“They are really fit at the moment but to be able to close out three games on the trot in the dying minutes shows great character.”

With the score at 31-31 and two minutes left Pennell missed a touchline conversion but Duncan insisted his team were determined to come out on top.

Worcester secured a penalty inside Stade’s half before an excellent touchfinder from Mills set up a lineout on the 22 which provided the platform for Hammond’s last-gasp score in the opposite corner.

“We would never have been satisfied with a draw,” Duncan said.

“We were obviously getting messages onto the pitch for that last kick-off.

“We wanted the guys to have a crack at them when we were at 31-31 and they had a bit of ball.

“Fortunately we managed to get the penalty and I thought that was an unbelievable kick by Millsy (Ryan Mills) at the end to take us so close to the goal-line and put us in a good position to set up the maul.

“To my recollection we had the advantage from the maul and then space opened up out wide.

"For the guys to be able to identify it and finish off those passes shows their quality.”

Duncan admitted Warriors made “far too many mistakes” in the opening period as Stade responded to scores from Howe and Simon Kerrod to open up a healthy advantage.

“We also made quite a few errors in the second half but I thought our work-rate was really good,” Duncan continued.

“We did pressurise them and spent most of that half on their side of the field and managed to convert in the last 20 minutes.”

Duncan said Warriors’ third successive comeback triumph also gave the players a big confidence boost as they look to progress in Europe.

“It’s really good for us to have three wins under our belt and we obviously want to continue with that momentum going into the Premiership,” Duncan added.

“For the guys that had an opportunity this is really exciting for them as they are becoming part of something special for the club.

“We have still got many games left in both the ECC, Premiership and Premiership Cup and a lot of players are showing that they are capable.”