HOMEGROWN players turning their back on Sixways for other Aviva Premiership clubs is ‘difficult to swallow’, according to Worcester Warriors managing director Charlie Little.

However, the Warriors chief admits there is little the club can do to prevent the disappointing trend from continuing, apart from keep making forward strides on the pitch.

Little is confident Worcester are not far away from becoming a desirable club for top players to join — and that, he feels, is backed up by the increasing amount of international recognition Warriors players are winning.

He explained: “At the current moment in time where Worcester Warriors are, to lose Graham Kitchener and Tom Wood to Leicester Tigers and Northampton Saints respectively is difficult to swallow, but you have to accept they have gone there to further their careers.

“It is not for money — they perceive they will get a chance to do better in their own individual careers by playing at those sorts of clubs. The players who have left here recently haven’t left for financial reasons.

“They have left for individual reasons but, as a club, we have to make sure we can meet those reasons. For example, we need to get into the Heineken Cup. To some extent, you have to accept that and we have to make sure Warriors are in a position where, if you play for Worcester, you can catch the eye of the international selectors.

“The supporters need to trust that everything the chairman, myself and Richard Hill do is in the interests of Worcester Warriors.

“We are not going to pay ridiculous amounts of money to the detriment of the squad to keep those players.”

Little added: “I’m sure Tom Wood wouldn’t mind me saying that he hasn’t become a better player overnight just by going to Northampton, but he has joined a system that he is suited to and he has developed.

“We, at Worcester, have to create that type of environment to deliver. There is nothing Northampton have got that we can’t match.

“That is our objective — that players can come in and see they have that opportunity. The likes of Miles Benjamin, Matt Mullan, Matt Kvesic and Andy Short know that they have been able to achieve their successes here and they can achieve future goals here.”