Ruddock is starting his third season at Sixways

Worcester Warriors director of rugby Mike Ruddock says he will not be panicking after Friday's 25-3 friendly defeat by Ulster at Sixways.

Ruddock is convinced his side showed enough promise in the first half to go into the new campaign with optimism.

He said: "We wanted to play our strongest panel for 50 minutes. Then we would start to make some changes, to be in good health ready for next week."

"I'm certainly not going to panic," the former Wales boss added.

"They scored a try in the first five minutes which was good play by them, although we want to look at the video as we felt we were blocked out and obstructed for the try.

There are no points awarded and there is no league table, play-offs and relegation in pre-season Worcester Warriors director of rugby Mike Ruddock

"After that we came back strongly and had all the possession and all the territory, they had a man in the bin and we camped on their line for 10 minutes.

"If we are honest, we should have been more clinical there and should have scored at least one try to go in at half-time ahead.

"Last year we put 70 points on Moseley, beat Ulster at Ravenhill and then went down to Northampton and played like a drain.

"There are no points awarded and there is no league table, play-offs and relegation in pre-season.

"It is part of your preparation and our focus was to try and be better in the tackle area. I thought in the first half we achieved that."

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