HEAD coach Richard Hill has taken another swipe at the ‘crazy’ Championship play-offs format ahead of the first leg of Worcester Warriors’ final showdown with Cornish Pirates.

The Sixways boss takes his promotion-hopefuls to The Mennaye Field for tomorrow’s first installment of the end-of-season showpiece (7.45pm).

However, it rankles with Hill that his side — with absolutely everything at stake — must first overcome a team with absolutely no pressure weighing on their shoulders before they can reclaim a place in the Premiership.

To secure promotion, Warriors, who finished the regular season 19 points clear of their nearest rivals, must now seal an aggregate victory over the Pirates, who cannot be promoted due to their ground not meeting top-flight requirements.

An exasperated Hill said: “The competition is odd because there is no pressure on the Pirates — just like there was no pressure on Bedford in the semi-final, which is why they played so well and made so few errors.

“It’s a crazy system that you can get into a semi-final where only one team has the facilities to get promoted.

“Had we not beaten Bedford, then the final would have been a dead-rubber between two teams who can’t go up anyway. The only beneficiary of that would be Leeds.

“Now, we’ve got one team who has all the pressure, while the other has absolutely none — it is a bizarre scenario.

“Normally, when you come into a semi-final, both teams are jittery and suffering from nerves because it means a lot.

“We saw when Bedford came to Sixways in the semi-final that if you’re not under pressure, you don’t make too many mistakes.

“We will have to handle the pressure and make sure our skills are more accurate at Pirates.”

Since way back in January, Hill and his Warriors number two Phil Davies have been planning to meet Pirates in the final.

Their assumption has been proved correct and Hill insists Worcester will be up against a quality outfit.

He added: “Pirates are a good all-round team, but the ones who’ve performed well against us are Jonny Bentley at 10, Matt Hopper at 13 and Rob Cook at full-back, who very rarely misses a kick, but they’ve got lots of other threats around the place.

“Dave Ward, at hooker, has stood out as a very good player and their pack is very efficient and combative.

“If their pack gets enough ball, they’ve got some inventive moves in the three-quarters and they can hurt you very badly.”

During the nerve-shredding final moments of the semi-final against Bedford, Hill cut a calm figure on the sidelines.

While he admits he was feeling every bit of the tension on the inside, he has learnt to keep a cool head in such circumstances throughout his coaching career.

He explained: “The only reason I was calm against Bedford was because I had 100 per cent belief in the squad, I really did, having seen us come back from some near impossible situations this season to claw it back. I had faith, I was sweating a bit inside, but genuinely I never thought we would lose that game. It is a good group who play really well for each other.

“I have changed as a coach. When you finish playing you get very emotional and think that shouting and screaming about on the touchline makes a difference.

“Sometimes, it means a lot to show passion and the supporters that you are there. You get a good feel for it and up in the stand you can’t always get a feel for it.

“You want to be able to look into the players’ eyes. You learn to control your emotions as you get older and I have mellowed over the years.”

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