GEOFF Cooke bemoaned Worcester Rugby Club's lack of patience after seeing his side dumped out the Tetley's Bitter Cup by Premiership top dogs Saracens yesterday.

Sixways' chief executive pointed to the final 20 minutes of the first-half of the match as the key moments at Vicarage Road where Worcester conceded four tries.

The National League Division One leaders had led 3-0 up until that point, but Cooke believed his side lost concentration and patience at the vital moment.

He said: "We've done alright for bits of the game but we had a very bad last 20 minutes of the first-half when we gave too much ball away.

"We spilled the ball, kicked it and we had four turnovers and four tries against us. And that's the harsh lesson.

"The level that Saracens are playing at -- they just seize on those like Christmas presents.

"They are used to playing at a faster pace than us and we just couldn't re-organise our defence quickly enough. When we had the ball we just lost patience because their tackling was very good.

"Again they are top class side but we lost patience."

He added: "It was a bit sad because the players had some good moments. The lesson our players need to learn is that if you make mistakes against these kind of teams then you will be punished.

"Possession is crucial in games such as this -- you just cannot afford to give the ball away at that level."

Cooke, however, is in no doubt that Worcester can only start competing seriously with the Saracens of this world if they are able to win promotion to the Premiership.

He said: "For us to get to that level of rugby Worcester Rugby Club needs to be playing with these teams week in, week out.

"We made mistakes today that we would get away with in Division One, but against Saracens we were punished every single time.

"They are playing every week against top-class opposition and that was the difference today.

"The only way you can learn to live with it is to be playing regularly at that level."