WORCESTER Warriors director of rugby Alan Solomons was pleased to claim a scrappy 20-6 win over London Irish at Sixways.

Warriors played against 14 men for 45 minutes and had a six-minute spell against 13 following Motu Matu’u’s red card and Allan Dell’s sin-binning.

But Worcester who led 13-3 at half-time with all of their points coming from Duncan Weir struggled to breach a dogged Irish defence.

It was not until Jono Lance’s try mid-way through the second-half when the home side looked comfortable, with errors and poor execution being the story of the game.

“I think it was important we won the game and denied them the bonus point, so from that point of view it was a good afternoon’s work,” Solomons said.

“Our error count was far too high, we couldn’t string things together or build pressure. It wasn’t a pretty game of rugby that’s for sure.”

On Warriors’ kicking tactics, Solomons added: “If you look at the first half I thought we kicked intelligently.

“Millsy (Ryan Mills) had a couple of really good kicks, we buried them in their half.

“I think the answer is that when they are down to 14 men if you can get into their half and hang onto the ball you are going to put them under pressure.

“They made no effort to play rugby in their own half aside from the last 10 minutes of the game when they were chasing a bonus point.

“We knew they would play the percentages and good luck to them.”

Solomons was appreciative of the effort from the away side and admitted his team were not able to get any forward momentum in key areas.

“You can never build pressure if you’re coughing up the ball,” Solomons said.

“Give them some credit, they defended well and they made the breakdown a dog fight.

“I do think on balance we deserved to win the game and that’s the important thing.”

The win saw Warriors climb one place to sixth.

Worcester begin the new year with a trip to reigning champions, Saracens, next Saturday and Solomons believes they will need to show a lot more than what was offered this afternoon if they are to take anything away from the game.

“Saracens are the best team in Europe, there is no doubt in my mind,” Solomons said.

“To be a top six side, we need to play better than that.

“Against Sale and Exeter we have been a top six side but this is a strong competition and there is no easy game. Every side is well prepared, well coached.”

The game marked the final game of 2019, and in turn, the decade for Worcester, which was played in front of a sell-out at Sixways.

Solomons felt the success and positivity of the club was the reason behind the bumper crowd, as well as some good work from behind the scenes.

“The crowd was fantastic,” Solomons added.

“Hats off to our owners and commercial department and everyone associated with the club, it’s fantastic to see a sell-out.

“Our youngsters are playing well in the Cavaliers and we have signed up all our youngsters, so the positive feeling is coming through and you can see that in the performances.”