INTERIM boss Corin Palmer praised the Worcester Warriors players for the manner in which they responded to Richard Hill’s Sixways departure.

Warriors’ director of rugby operations was at the helm for the visit of Harlequins and, although the side were well beaten in the end, he felt there were plenty of positives to be taken from the performance.

Palmer said: “It was a good game for the neutral but, for us, we asked for passion and a performance and we got both of those.

“Are we sad we lost? Damn right we are — we wanted to go out there and win after a difficult week, but the boys put on a show.

“When we had momentum, but we gave that back to Quins too easily. In the Premiership, you can’t afford to give away soft tries and field position so easily and expect to win games.

“What had happened in the week did not affect the players at all — they have shown nothing but professionalism and they have been magnificent in everything they’ve done.

“We had the Aviva Premiership champions in town and there was such resolve to get a result to thank the fans.

“We have got the building blocks in place, it’s just so frustrating — we can lack accuracy in the final third and we need to work on that going forward.”

Up against England full-back Mike Brown, Warriors number 15 Chris Pennell put in a storming performance and was the obvious man-of-the-match.

Palmer added: “If you asked the uneducated who the England full-back was, they would have picked Chris. He was certainly my man-of-the-match and that was probably the best game he’s ever played for Worcester.

“Seven guys in that match-squad are leaving and we had a centurion in Chris and a 50-capper in James Percival, so there were lots of memories out there.

“Ben Howard bodes well for the future and he has been gagging for an opportunity. He has come through the academy and is the future of our club.”

Despite an exciting display of attacking rugby from Worcester, Palmer admitted the defence will needs tightening up.

He said: “Phil Larder is the grumpiest old man at the best of times and he was even grumpier after conceding so many tries. It is something we need to look at and we’ll be doing that between now and the last game.”