DEAN Ryan has hit out at criticism of his players’ commitment to the cause in the wake of the crushing loss at London Irish.

Warriors’ Aviva Premiership status is dangling by a thread following the catastrophic 22-9 defeat, which has left them cut adrift by 11 points at the foot of the table.

In the wake of the Madejski Stadium misery, outraged supporters lashed out on various social media platforms, calling the team an ‘absolute disgrace’ and saying the players ‘could not be bothered to turn up’.

Director of rugby Ryan was understandably angered by this and fired back at people ‘sitting in their mother’s back room and firing off messages on a computer’.

“I think it is unfair to question my players’ commitment,” the Warriors chief said. “I don’t think I have ever questioned a player’s commitment.

“I think, as a club, Worcester Warriors has to stop going from week to week questioning things. This team has been really tight for the last six or seven weeks, but we’re aware of where we are.

“That amount of pressure on people makes it the easiest place to go somewhere else, but I am certainly not questioning people’s commitment.

“There are a lot of people working really hard for this club to turn the corner, because we were pretty dysfunctional at the start of the season. We have one step back and everyone wants to put us in the stocks and throw mud.

“As a club, we have to get better — understand when we make mistakes, understand when we’re below par and then work hard to get better.

“But because someone can sit in their mother’s back room and fire off a message on a computer and allow that to become part of something, I find that to be something we need to move away from.”

Ryan added: “My general message to the supporters is the same as it always has been — we came here to rebuild this club and to make sure the things that have been done are not repeated.

“We’ve talked about that being a long-term project and that message is the same every single week irrespective of results.

“We understand that sometimes front-of-house doesn’t go as well as we would like it to, but that is the situation this club has put itself in and that is what we have to move away from.

“That is not a week-to-week message, it is a month-to-month and year-to-year message and, if we get better within it in the short term, then great, but in the long term we won’t make the same mistakes again.”