ALL Black wing Rico Gear insists there are reasons to be cheerful despite Worcester Warriors crashing to convincing back-to-back Guinness Premiership defeats.

The men from Sixways were soundly beaten 34-15 by Harlequins at The Stoop on Saturday, having suffered a 19-6 defeat at Saracens the weekend before - but on both occasions the scoreline could have been much worse for the Warriors.

However, the Kiwi speedster, who expertly touched down in the corner for one of Worcester's few bright spots during the capital punishment, is not down-hearted by the recent results.

"There's plenty more to come from the Warriors for sure. We've got the team - there's no doubt about that. We've got a good set-piece and back line we've just got to start tidying up those areas in between and getting a bit tighter," he said. "Even if we just grind out a win - we don't need to be too flashy.

"Maybe after the Bristol win, we thought we were doing OK, but we need to tighten up and look at the areas we've been struggling in. We've been giving away a lot of penalties and turn-over ball - that's where we've been killing ourselves in the last couple of weeks. I think we need to be more competitive.

"Mike wants us to play and get the ball out wide and we have got a good forward pack, but that will take time - it won't happen overnight - and we've got to keep building. What we can't do is go backwards, so we have got to make sure we keep picking up bonus points and going in the right direction.

"It is kind of what I expected when I came here, but we've got to get better. We need to be more consistent - we had a good win against Bristol and we need to get back to how we played then and get some points on the board."

Wideman Gear admitted Warriors were second best after the break against Quins, but feels Worcester have a potent attacking threat in his countryman Sam Tuitupou.

Gear added: "We talked about starting the second-half well and coming out strong. We got a good bounce from the kick-off and somehow they ended up with the ball and that happened quite a lot. It just felt like we were on the back foot quite a lot in the second-half. Because of that we didn't get much territory - we wanted to play with the ball in hand and it was good conditions for that.

"Once again, though, they were a bit better than us at ruck time. We left the ball exposed too often and they turned it over. We gave away a lot of penalties too.

"We're getting to the point now where we can create a lot of opportunities but, at the same time, we're not quite finishing them off. Not long after half-time, we had a good chance to score in the corner - we had the numbers, but didn't quite use them right. That might have changed the game a little bit if we'd scored then - but after that we were on the back foot and couldn't recover.

"Sammy is always going to cause a lot of trouble for teams and we've got to make sure we get on his outside shoulder and make the most of those yards. We're still getting used to the combinations and the guys are still getting used to Sammy doing what he does. We need to get our support play going a bit more - we're not quite there yet, but there are some good signs."