AFTER two games, Warriors are rock bottom of the Guinness Premiership and now face the unenviable task of taking on the champions just as they hit their stride.

Lesser men would be quaking in their boots but all the noises coming out of Sixways suggest the time for panic is some way down the line.

The mood was not quite as upbeat in the visitors' dressing room after Newcastle came back from the dead to clinch an unlikely win on Friday night, but players and coaches are choosing to focus on the positives this week.

Their mitigation centres on two basic points. The first is that it is a long, hard season and it is far too early to tell who will finish where when the music stops in May.

The second, which is not entirely unrelated, is that Warriors have a stronger squad now than in any previous year.

The first is not without merit. While beating Sale would quickly put their season back on course and would be a huge fillip for fans and players alike, the outcome may not be crucial to Worcester's Premiership ambitions.

"I don't think it bears any extra significance over and above any other game that we play here," said director of rugby John Brain.

"It's the third game of the season and it's like any home game we play. We look to win."

Defeats against Bristol and Newcastle are not yet causing the Sixways supremo sleepless nights.

"The two losses were completely different," he said. "We have to accept in the first game we were completely outplayed one to 10 and there was not a lot we could do about that.

"Bristol played very well and executed a limited game plan extremely efficiently.

"They are two completely different games and I think it is too early to read anything into anything.

"It's the third game of the season and it's like any home game we play. We look to win.

"We were very disappointed with the way Friday turned out, particularly after we had controlled a lot of that game. I think there were signs that we were getting on track.

"We've got to build on that and improve our performance and look to get a result this week."

The squad argument is not so easy to assess. Chris Horsman was on the bench for the Newcastle game and Tim Collier has not made the 22 for any of the three games. That would suggest Brain has a deeper pool of players at his disposal and it was an observation he made himself when explaining the selection of Tevita Taumoepeau ahead of Horsman.

He said: "I think the fact that a player who has routinely started here, finds himself on the bench, is probably more to do with the strength we feel we have got in our squad. We've got a deeper squad and can afford to do that.

"I think the Guinness Premiership matches, as far as the forwards are concerned, are a 12-man game."

There is a lot of truth in the idea that matches are often won from the bench and the sight of Gavin Quinnell warming up should fill opponents with dread as they enter the latter stages of an encounter.

But the counter-argument is that most top-flight teams have much stronger benches still. A glance at the visitors' replacements on Friday night should bring that into sharp focus.

That's not to say Brain's men should be written off. They love nothing better than beating the odds under the lights at Sixways as Wasps and Leicester have both found to their cost.

Victory in this one would trump those famous nights and would stop everybody looking nervously at the table - for a week at least.