MIKE Ruddock was given a bitter taste of just how tough life in the Guinness Premier-ship can be as he saw his Worcester Warriors side crash to a comprehensive defeat at the hands of a rampant Bath at The Rec.

In the build-up to the game, Ruddock revealed fears that his side might be undercooked because of a lack of warm-up games in pre-season and his worries were confirmed as the hosts, despite missing a host of first team regulars to World Cup duty, won the match at a canter.

The match started positively for the Warriors, though, when fly-half Shane Drahm confidently slotted a 45-metre penalty after Bath had been caught offside. However, the hosts then roared back into the game with a spell of sustained pressure.

The 10,010 crowd rose to acclaim a debut try for South African scrum-half Michael Claas-sens after seven minutes when he was put clean through by fly-half Shaun Berne. Berne then completed the routine conversion to make it 7-3.

Chris Pennell, making his Guinness Premiership debut, had to be alert to clear under pressure, but his improvised kick went straight to Ryan Davis who fed hooker Pieter Dixon. The front-rower galloped for the line, but was bundled into touch just short.

However, Bath were not to be denied for long and another man making his first appearance for the club, academy star Jack Cuthbert, crossed in the corner to make it 12-3. Berne was on target again for the extras.

Following the score, Worcester winger Thinus Delport was spoken to by referee Martin Fox for taking Tom Cheeseman out off the ball in the build-up to the try, but no further action was taken.

Although Bath's line-out was not firing on all cylinders, Worcester could not take advantage and almost every time they looked to break, the ball ended up being spilled forward.

On the half-hour mark, Matt Powell reduced arrears for the visitors with a well-taken score. Craig Gillies claimed line-out ball just inside Bath's 10-metre line and immediately fed Powell who scampered up the short side to cross over unopposed.

Drahm was on target to close the deficit to just two points at 12-10.

The hosts restored their seven-point advantage, though, two minutes before the interval when impressive wing Cuthbert scored in the corner following a spell of intense pressure, led by fellow winger Matt Banahan.

Bath recycled several phases in the Wor-cester 22' before eventually working the ball through the hands for the youngster to evade the visitors' defensive line.

The second-half was a fairly cagey affair to begin with as Worcester played tentatively for fear of falling further behind, while Bath were understandably keen to defend their lead.

In the early exchanges, Davis went close with a drop-goal, but his 35-metre effort drifted marginally wide of the right-hand upright, but as the half wore on, Bath began to play the better rugby, with Claassens and full-back Nick Abendanon frequently involved.

Bath hands in a ruck gifted Drahm a relatively straight-forward opportunity to add three points and bring Worcester within a converted score of their opponents, but the fly-half saw his kick slide wide.

Ruddock has urged his charges to run the ball more and this soon became evident as the Warriors looked to use their backline as often as possible.

After 55 minutes, a good break by Drahm fed centre Dale Rasmussen, who broke through a tackle and shipped a rapid pass into the path of winger Marcel Garvey just five yards out. However, the former Glouces-ter flyer's hands let him down and he spilled the pass when it looked easier to score.

On the hour mark, Ruddock looked to re-invigorate his three-quarters by taking off Powell and Drahm to replace them with Ryan Powell and James Brown.

Three minutes later, Berne's accurate boot punished a Worcester off-side to the tune of three points.

Further Worcester changes followed as Ben Gotting and Gavin Quinnell came off the bench to replace Chris Fortey and Kai Horstmann.

Another Worcester offside allowed Berne to stretch Bath's lead to 22-10.

Then, ten minutes from time, Bath effectively put the game to bed as they wrapped up their bonus point when replacement Daniel Browne became the third debutant to get on the scoresheet.

Worcester lost a scrum against the head five metres out and the ball broke loose to Browne who took full advantage to dive over beneath the posts, giving Berne the simplest of chances to add to his tally.

The Warriors staged a late foray into their opponents' 22 and the ball was worked along the line to Pennell who handed off his man before offering an excellent off-load to Delport who stepped on the gas and slid over by the flag.

Brown was off target with the tricky conversion, so the score remained 29-15.

Worcester looked to finish with a flourish as Pennell again sent Delport racing down the flank, but Banahan got back to make an excellent try-saving challenge, putting the player in to touch and precipitating the final whistle.