GEOFF Cooke took his first training session at Sixways yesterday aiming to lift a squad rocked by the sacking of Les Cusworth.

And the former England coach is looking for a quick response from the side which lost 42-0 at Rotherham on Saturday -- just 48 hours before Cusworth's sacking.

The back-up team of Phil Maynard and Carl Douglas remains unaltered with Cooke stepping into the main coaching role.

Cooke was brought in last summer as chief executive to oversee the business and development side of the club.

"Putting on my tracksuit was not something I had planned to do but if that's what's needed I'll drag it out and squeeze back into it," said Cooke. "The players have to reflect on their responsibilities of what they're doing.

"It's a strange thing in sport that when the team play well the side get the credit and when the team doesn't do so well the manager gets the blame."

"We've got to pick ourselves up from last Saturday, it was a disappointing performance."

Worcester have now used 50 players for first team fixtures this season but Cooke does not believe there has been too many.

"You need a big strong squad in case of injuries and so you can rest players," he said.

"Things are changing and clubs are looking to get by with fewer players but Worcester haven't got a big squad by first division standards."

Cooke also praised Cusworth for his work over the last three seasons.

"Les has done a lot for the club and put a lot of things in place that will stand the club in good stead," added Cooke.

"People shouldn't underestimate his contribution to the success of Worcester Rugby Club.

"It's still a success story despite not fulfilling the ambition of everyone but there was never any guarantees of that.

"The club has come into the second division and finished at the top of it. Worcester is among the top 15 clubs in the country just on the playing performance, in other criteria it's in the top 12."