Bortolami tangled with Worcester's Pat Sanderson at Sixways (Getty Images)

Gloucester captain Marco Bortolami has said his team must take responsibility for throwing away a winning position at Worcester on Saturday.

"We had a lot of set pieces in their half, and we never went forward," he told BBC Radio Gloucestershire.

The Italian international added: "If you don't go forward in the first phase, you can't play rugby at all.

"We gave them high field position right at the end and it was a big mistake. We have to take responsibility."

Interview: Gloucester captain Marco Bortolami

Gloucester regained top spot in the Premiership at the weekend, but only because of picking up a losing bonus point in the 17-14 defeat at Worcester.

The Cherry and Whites failed to score in the second half at Sixways playing with the elements at their backs, and Bortolami feels Gloucester will have to be smarter next Saturday against Munster if they want to reach the Heineken Cup semi-finals.

"That was the worst part of this game, spending 80% of the time right outside their 22," he added.

"We tried to push the ball around but we were never nice and direct. I think in these sort of games we have to finish the job and we didn't do that."