DIRECTOR of rugby Alan Solomons said he was “overjoyed” after Worcester Warriors retained their Aviva Premiership status by registering their biggest win of the season.

Warriors proved too strong for Harlequins as they scored seven tries in a stunning 44-13 victory over Harlequins at Sixways.

The bonus-point triumph for Worcester condemned London Irish who host Saracens tomorrow to relegation as Solomons’ men moved 14 points clear of the drop zone.

“I am absolutely delighted,” said Solomons.

“We made the point right at the beginning of the week that we wanted to be masters of our own destiny.

“We didn’t want to rely on someone else doing it for us. We have done it ourselves so I am really pleased about that.”

The match saw club captain Donncha O’Callaghan bring the curtain down on his glittering career and Chris Pennell make his 200th appearance for Warriors.

“Everybody knew that it was Donncha’s last game and Chris' 200th but our focus was about making sure we were masters of our own destiny,” Solomons continued.

“Then the by-product would be that they would have a successful day.

“I thought we kept to that theme throughout the week and that paid dividends.

“I am overjoyed that we know that we have sealed our place in the Premiership for next year.”

Needing a point to guarantee safety Warriors came out firing and got the job done by half-time thanks to four tries.

Bryce Heem, Darren Barry, Jackson Willison and Ben Te’o crossed the whitewash to establish a 25-13 lead at half-time.

But Warriors refused to take their foot off the gas against a struggling Quins side as Francois Hougaard and Jamie Shillcock went over before Willison grabbed his second late on to cap off a memorable afternoon.

“The key for us (after the first half) was to maintain our structure and not to let the game get loose,” Solomons said.

“We wanted to have composure and patience on the ball so we did not want to force things.

“We had a great first 40 minutes, but we needed to recalibrate, start from zero and have a great second 40 minutes.

“This is professional sport so you can only relax until after the game.

“You should always be pursuing excellence and that’s what we tried to do.”

Warriors also moved level on points with Northampton Saints who visit Wasps on Sunday and Quins who have now lost four successive league games.

Director of rugby John Kingston who will leave Quins in the summer said his players were suffering from a lack of confidence.

"We are disappointed by the way the whole thing has unravelled," Kingston said.

"Those lads care about Harlequins and really want to go out there and turn things around.

"But it's not straight forward and sport is a brutal business.

"If you are not quite right you are going to get well beaten.

"There were times in the game which were pivotal but we are not in a position to take advantage of those situations at the moment."