THE memory of last season’s nightmare trip to Exeter Chiefs still haunts Worcester Warriors centre Wynand Olivier.

The South African suffered a season-ending hamstring tear and Warriors also had three players yellow-carded in April’s 50-12 Aviva Premiership “hiding” at Sandy Park.

Warriors have never beaten Exeter in the Premiership and the odds are heavily stacked against the Sixways club in tomorrow’s clash (4.30pm).

“The first thing I remember about last season’s match at Exeter was pulling my hamstring and, apart from that, it wasn’t a good outing,” recalled Olivier.

“We started off the match OK but it was quite a hiding at the end of it and hopefully it won’t be the same result this time.

“I have only been down to Exeter once and the wind was quite hectic but you have to adapt to the conditions, referee and game style because it’s not the same thing every weekend.”

Warriors fell 18-17 at home to Northampton Saints last Friday and Olivier believes they must improve on their discipline.

“Penalties cost us a bit and our discipline has been one of our weaknesses throughout the season but it is something we’re working on to improve,” said Olivier.

“This will be another tough match coming up, so it’s just about working hard at things and maybe we can get a good result.”

The 33-year-old says Worcester must get better at reading match situations and ‘play’ the referee to make sure they keep on the right side of the tracks.

“Referees are human and sometimes they make mistakes,” said Olivier.

“We need to start looking at ourselves a little more and play the referee towards his strengths and weaknesses a bit more and adapt to his game.

“Different referees blow up at different things so sometimes you have to play him and that’s one thing we haven’t done over the course of the season.

“It’s very frustrating but we have a fairly young side and for a lot of guys it’s only their second season at this level. That’s not really an excuse we can keep using but we are learning quite a lot.”

The vastly-experienced Olivier admits the challenges facing Warriors are different from most of their other rivals in the top tier.

“I have been in fortunate situations because I’ve learned game strategies and how to control the game but ultimately it comes down to the main boys at nine and 10 to control things,” he said.

“A lot of our boys have not had much experience of playing in the Premiership and we have been struggling quite a bit with the same things. But it’s great to see a guy like Shilly (Jamie Shillcock) stepping up last weekend.

“He’s only 19 but playing in the Premiership as well as he did was brilliant and he tends to pick up things quickly.

“In pressure situations, we need the boys to stick to their guns and manage the game. Maybe we can start to get positive results off the back of it.”