DEAN Ryan has not been surprised by the size of his task in hand at Worcester Warriors, but admits it will take time for his changes to take root.

The former Gloucester boss was appointed as director of rugby at Sixways last April following the removal of Richard Hill from his role as head coach.

However, it has not been a smooth transition to date with the side anchored to the foot of the Aviva Premiership table following 11 consecutive league defeats.

Ryan explained: “I don’t think the task is bigger.

“Some of the things have been more complex than I necessarily thought but I always had a clear picture of what was needed and the personnel I wanted to bring in and how long things were going to take.

“That’s not changed but some of the things have been more complex and culturally more challenging to change but you put the right people in, challenge them and look for their response.

"As a group, I think we have changed direction and are working hard to try to improve.

“The reasons why this club got itself into the position it did I have spoken about a lot, now we’re trying to do something about getting out of it.

“The time frames of that will be dictated over the next two or three months but it won’t change what the challenge is.”

Despite Warriors remaining winless in the league, Ryan insists his side have been making big strides in recent weeks ahead of tomorrow's crunch clash at second-from-bottom London Irish (3pm).

He added: “I think we’ve improved dramatically defensively and with our cohesion — we understand what we’re trying to do collectively.

“We have become a team and I don’t think we were any of those things at the beginning of the season.

“We’ve always had this view culturally that there was going to be some miracle individual who was going to bail us out.

“I think now we’re a pretty tight team. When you look at how this club has sometimes conducted itself, it’s bought those miracle players so it’s not a surprise others think that’s how our life is solved but it’s not.

“Life is solved by everybody working to one agenda and being pretty tight.”