Academy player Chris Pennell impressed Ruddock

Worcester Warriors director of rugby Mike Ruddock was happy with his line-up despite the 49-12 defeat by Wasps.

Leeds also lost to ease Ruddock's relegation fears and they now have to win their last three games with bonus points to put Worcester under pressure. "We were up against a very good Wasps side," Ruddock told BBC Hereford & Worcester.

"We needed to rest players, and I was pleased with the way the likes of Johnny Arr and Matt Cox played."

"We have some big games to come, and we have players who need to recuperate from injuries, and this game gave us the chance to bring in some young lads.

"Take Graham Kitchener for instance, he came on for us, and has to go back tonight to revise for his exams.

"They bought on Simon Shaw at the same time, which gives you an idea of the depth of the Wasps squad."

Tries from Matt Cox and Matt Mullen were little consolation for Worcester, but Ruddock says they started well:

"In the first 10 minutes I thought we played some great rugby and we had good shape to us and good ambition but we missed a penalty and couldn't maintain it against a very good side.

"We probably tried to play a bit too much rugby and made a few errors and allowed Wasps to capitalise on them - which they do so well.

"But they deserved the win and were the better team by far."