HEAD coach Carl Hogg has vowed to “stay strong” and battle through his “tough” period at Worcester Warriors’ helm.

The former Scotland international admits last Saturday’s 55-19 Aviva Premiership drubbing at rivals Gloucester was among the toughest moments of his career.

With Warriors just one place of the bottom of the table, Hogg says there are “no plans at the moment” to bring in fresh faces into the coaching set-up.

And Hogg has given his support to defence coach Simon Cross despite Warriors conceding an average of 40 points in away league matches this term.

Backs coach Sam Vesty will head up the coaching team for Saturday’s European Challenge Cup trip to Brive but Hogg intends to be “more hands-on” than in previous matches in the competition.

“It’s a tough time but it’s about battling through,” said Hogg.

“It’s about staying strong and believing in yourself and that’s what I intend to do.

“It was hugely disappointing and a tough day at the office at Gloucester. I have been involved in sport for a long time and that was about as tough as it gets.

“But you have to bounce back and show resilience and fighting spirit.

“We have got a month now, starting with Brive, to put that right.”

Warriors conceded seven tries in their thrashing at Gloucester and Hogg admitted he was “responsible for all aspects of the side”.

“If it’s 40 points shipped away the responsibility sits with me,” said Hogg.

“Simon is a very good coach and clearly the results suggest otherwise. But I watch Simon day-in day-out, week-in week-out and he’s a very good coach and I have got every confidence in him.

“Sixways was a pretty dark place on Monday morning and we know we have got to turn it around.

“It was a pretty frank discussion about what happened (at Gloucester) and what we need to do.”

Warriors sit bottom of their pool in Europe after three defeats from four matches and Hogg is planning to “change it up a bit”.

After tackling Brive, Worcester host Russian outfit Enisei-STM in their final European match on January 21 before entertaining Harlequins in the Anglo-Welsh Cup on January 28.

“We’ve got two European and two Anglo-Welsh matches coming up and we have to use them to build momentum and get some confidence back in the side,” said Hogg.

“We are tied with European registration but it’s an opportunity for us to go out and deliver.

“I am looking to change it up a bit. I will be more active than I have been in the past.

“Sam will head it up but I will be much more hands-on than I have been previously. I will be involved in directing and leading sessions.”

Wing Perry Humphreys is now fit after a knee injury and USA front-row forward Joe Taufete’e looks set to make his debut as Warriors field a “more senior” squad for the trip to table-topping Brive.

“We have to use the next month wisely,” said Hogg.

“We have to dust ourselves down from the last couple of weeks and build confidence through the way we train and perform, “Brive is a great opportunity away from home which has been problematic for us during the season so we will look at it as a challenge.

“We will put a more senior side out than we have in the past (in Europe) and we will look to go out there and perform.”