Falcons director of rugby Steve Bates credited his side's endeavour but lamented their end product, as they left Sixways empty-handed on Friday.

Having seen his Newcastle side fall 13-0 in a keenly-contested Guinness Premiership clash against a battling Worcester side, the director of rugby said: “We played some good stuff at times, but our failure to finish off our chances is what undid us.

“We kept the ball in hand more and made a number of line breaks, but we couldn’t convert them into points so naturally we’re disappointed not to get on the scoreboard.”

Trailing by six points with less than ten minutes to go, Bates said: “I thought we were worth a bonus point, so to concede a sloppy try in the last few minutes was a massive blow.

“We perhaps showed some inexperience in forcing the attack from inside our own 22, we coughed the ball up and we were made to pay for it when they scooped up it up and scored.

“In a way you have to commend the ambition of the players for having a go, but there are times to play and times to get it off the park. We need to find that balance, but there was no shortage of endeavour and creativity from the players tonight.”

With his side being dragged towards the relegation dogfight, Bates did not sugar coat the situation, stating: “Until we’re mathematically safe, then yes, we’re in that battle along with a number of other sides.

“We remain positive though, we go into every game determined to win and believing we have the quality to do the job.

“Worcester gave us a good test tonight, they put us under pressure at the scrum but then we would expect nothing less, because they’ve got good players and they place a lot of pride in the scrummaging game.

“We move on to next Sunday at home to Bath, that will be a big test for us but having won down there earlier in the season the boys will be pumped up and keen to complete a double over them.”