HAVING experienced referee Wayne Barnes in the middle for Sunday’s crunch Aviva Premiership clash is “an advantage for both sides,” according to Worcester Warriors chief Dean Ryan.

Despite it being the opening weekend of the Six Nations, the no-nonsense Barnes takes charge of his 162nd Premiership match between London Irish and Worcester.

Barnes sent off Warriors lock Donncha O’Callaghan for the first time in his career against Leicester Tigers in December, while Matt Cox and rookie prop Gareth Milasinovich were sin-binned.

Barnes yellow-carded Harlequins duo George Lowe and Jamie Roberts when he officiated in Worcester’s 24-20 bonus-point reverse at Sixways last month.

Ryan said: “We have not had the best of refereeing and the statistics are reinforced across every piece of data we’ve seen.

“We expect Wayne to be the most competitive referee in England, if not the world.

“What he does is he sets his stall out and you either amend what you’re doing to suit him or you’re on the wrong side of him as we found out against Leicester.

“I expect us to react accordingly to make sure we win.”

Asked whether Warriors skipper Gerrit-Jan van Velze would try to have dialogue in the match with Barnes, Ryan said: “Wayne doesn’t respond to somebody talking in his ear, does he?

“It doesn’t mean that, as a captain, you can’t give him a few pointers but, at the same time, he’s a world-class referee and has had a few decent players in his ear over the years, so I can’t imagine it’s a massive issue.

“Wayne is the best referee in England and he is refereeing the game at the weekend, which is an advantage to both sides.”

Warriors know they will need the upper-hand in the scrum to avoid the wrath of Barnes’ whistle.

The scrum is a facet Warriors are vastly improved in and they dominated against Exeter Chiefs last weekend.

“Our discipline was pretty good at the weekend — it was 15-6 in penalties in our favour — so I don’t think discipline is a concern,” said Ryan.

“Defensively, we looked pretty robust but we made individual errors and sometimes the speed of thought caught us out.”