INFLUENTIAL scrum-half Francois Hougaard has challenged his Worcester Warriors team-mates to cut out their unforced errors.

He says they have been heavily punished for making errors against the best sides in the Premiership.

Warriors have lost to Exeter Chiefs, Wasps and Leicester Tigers since guaranteeing their Premiership survival.

Full-back Chris Pennell was guilty of having his pass intercepted by Vereniki Goneva for Tigers’ opening try at Welford Road.

But Hougaard, 28, is confident it’s an area Warriors “can fix” and predicts there are exciting times ahead for the Sixways club.

Hougaard made his final appearance of the season for Worcester in Saturday’s hard-fought 31-17 defeat against title-chasing Leicester.

The Premiership player of the month for March has made a huge impact for Warriors in his nine-game spell for the club.

But the scrum-half will miss Saturday’s clash against Saracens at Sixways (3.30pm) because he is linking up with the South Africa sevens squad.

Hougaard is hoping to represent the Springboks at the Olympics in Rio this summer.

He will be playing for his country at the HSBC Word Rugby Sevens rounds in Paris and London on May 13, 14 and 15 and May 21 and 22 respectively.

Hougaard said: “It’s obviously disappointing when you make stupid and unforced errors.

“I am happy with the team’s performance and everything is moving towards what we are building.

“I am really excited for the next couple of seasons and I think it is the start of something really special. We made small mistakes against Leicester but they are all things we can fix.

“We have to cut out unforced errors and the silly things that can creep into our game.

“If we can cut that out, we can go quite far.

“We have got so much to work on and I am really excited about what’s lying ahead for us.”

Warriors look set to finish 10th in the Premiership and Hougaard has experienced playing against some of England’s best teams since his arrival in February.

Hougaard, who will be arriving back at Worcester in September, said: “There are no weak sides in this competition. The Premiership is tough.

“A quality side like Leicester will take opportunities and feed off mistakes and that’s something we have to learn from.

“It’s never easy to lose and I don’t like losing at all. I am not a sore loser because I know Leicester were the better team and that stupid mistakes cost us.

“But I am excited about what’s ahead of us.”

Warriors director of rugby Dean Ryan paid tribute to Hougaard’s contribution and wished him luck for his Rio bid this summer.

“We had Francois on loan from the sevens, we’re grateful for that and we’re obviously grateful he’s coming back to us next season,” said Ryan.

“He’s been great for us all the way through.”