DIRECTOR of rugby Mike Ruddock was delighted to see his Worcester Warriors translate their impressive recent European Challenge Cup form into a Guinness Premiership victory.

The Sixways outfit picked up their first league success under Ruddock's guidance with a 25-5 win over Bristol and the Warriors chief is now looking for more of the same.

He said: "We are disappointed that it has taken this long to come but, fingers crossed - please God - this is a sign of things to come.

"I'm not sure it is a sense of relief, because I have been seeing progress in this team for quite a while now. We have built some momentum - particularly in Europe -- so relief was never a factor.

"We have had some transition with new players coming in and new strategies, so hopefully it is coming together now.

"We still made hard work of it though, missing kicks from in front of goal, which would have cost us the match in a tighter game. We should have gone in at half-time ahead but we missed a kick.

"There were a lot of good things about us though. We were very physical, particularly in the second-half.

"I thought Bristol kept us penned in areas we didn't want to be in the first-half and kept the pressure on. We found it frustrating that we couldn't get out, so we tried to kick to relieve the pressure, but we didn't do that well and the ball broke for them and they scored.

"In the second-half we looked the stronger team. In fairness to Bristol, they have had a tough European campaign and struggled after the break, so we went for the jugular.

"We still missed some kicks though and threw a line-out not straight from a good position when they had Matt Salter in the bin - they are all signs of a team that is not used to being ruthless and winning. Finally, when we did get our driving line-out try, the boys relaxed and we played some good rugby."

Ruddock also felt that because several of his senior players knew all about former Worcester director of rugby John Brain's coaching strategies, it gave his side an advantage.

Brain, now forwards coach at Bristol, saw his pack demolished by his former employers and Ruddock was happy with the way his side performed.

He said: "The boys knew a lot about John and his strategies and we had watched them closely last week against Cardiff Blues and saw them have their line-out disrupted quite a bit, which stopped them playing, so we knew that was going to be key.

"We were up in the air threatening their ball at all times and really put them under pressure.

"We have a huge amount of respect for John, but we made sure we went about our work well and looked at what they were doing.

"We obviously do that with every team, but the fact we knew a little bit more about what John favours certainly helped us.

"We did take one new line-out system into the game just to kick it off and try and get the element of surprise over them.

"The boys were delighted in the changing room. We looked powerful and looked like scoring tries, so we're hoping this is a turning point, but we're not getting carried away. We need to use this to press on now and we can go forward as a confident team."

Bristol director of rugby Richard Hill was gracious in defeat and admitted the better side won.

He said: "Congratulations to Worcester on their first win because they deserved it. We lost five line-outs on the trot and it was just not a good day for us."