WORCESTER Rugby Club coach John Brain admitted his players lost their fifth round RFU Cup tie with Rotherham in the mind after their 26-19 defeat to Rotherham.

The Sixways chief was in no mood for excuses after a below par Worcester showed too much respect to their league promotion rivals and suffered the consequences at Sixways.

"Unfortunately for the players," said Brain, "Everyone, except me, tells them that Rotherham are the better team in our league. We played in the first-half as if we believed Rotherham were the better team, there's no doubt about it.

"We gave away too many penalties and couldn't really get into the game. The times where we got some continuity in the match we looked OK. However, we conceded one soft try and then another when we had seven players against eight so that's disappointing."

Worcester found themselves 15-12 down at half-time in a turgid affair on Saturday but looked brighter in the second-half until Rotherham finished the game off with two penalties and a try.

"Our discipline, on the face of it, was poor. They beat us three tries to one and that is fair and square.

"Our line-out work was sloppy and that is annoying but there were some positives to come out of the match. Elton Moncrieff, for instance, played 60 minutes unscathed after his injury."

Brain, however, believed the defeat would have no psychological effect on Worcester's January league trip to Clifton Lane which will go a long way to deciding promotion to the Premiership this season.

"We have to work on our penetration and discipline," said Brain.

"We have to be a different team for when we visit them in January. We must take that game as a one-off, I don't think there is a psychological effect.

"There is a lot of publicity of how good Rotherham are. The unfortunate thing was we believed that, especially in the first-half and if we had started the game as we finished it, the result may well have been different.

"We have to regroup and concentrate on the league," added Brain.