DIRECTOR of rugby Gary Gold praised Worcester Warriors’ “fight” and “courage” in their superb 24-18 victory against reigning Aviva Premiership champions Saracens.

Warriors dominated Saturday’s contest for long periods at Sixways and led by 14 points with eight minutes remaining until Sarries hit back.

The former Bath, London Irish and Newcastle Falcons chief felt emotional after Warriors cut the European champions down to size in their best display of the campaign.

“It’s difficult not to feel emotional,” said 49-year-old Gold.

“I know how much it means to Bill Bolsover (Warriors' chairman) and the owners who have good ambitions for this club which made it very attractive and appealing for me to come here.

“I’ve grown to really enjoy these players in a short space of time. It’s emotional when you are able to see guys put up such a fight but this can never be about individuals or coaches.”

It was Gold’s first Premiership match in charge of Worcester and the energised performance was in stark contrast to their last top-tier outing which was a 55-19 battering at Gloucester last month.

“I am really happy and proud of the guys,” said Gold.

“I’ve have been here for a short period of time and they’ve had to take in a lot of information. But our task was simple and that was just to show the fight.

“I would have been prepared to lose that game to what I thought was an outstanding Saracens team and a good club because of the fight that was shown. That’s the foundation for us to work on.

“We made a lot of mistakes and let Sarries back into the game in a way we shouldn’t have but it was about the fight and showing the courage.

“When I arrived I said I wanted every Warriors fan to know the guys care and I think they showed that. It wasn’t about the result but the manner in which they played.”

Gold, a former South Africa assistant coach, said Warriors’ game-plan wasn’t “scientific” and they had focused on trying to keep things simple.

“Our focus point was not to try to do anything flash and try to keep the error rate as low as possible,” revealed Gold.

“The squad are 11th in the Premiership and were reasonably low in confidence so we had to minimise risk and make sure that when we had our opportunities we would try to take them and exert as much pressure on Saracens as possible.

“It wasn’t too much of a scientific game-plan. Our defence has been poor and we had to shore up our defence. It’s getting better but there’s a long way to go.”

The only disappointment for Gold was Sarries’ late fightback which saw a try from Schalk Brits and a last-gasp penalty salvage a losing bonus point for the champions.

“Against a team like Saracens I would have backed them nine times out of 10 to come back with just one score in it with five minutes to go,” said Gold.

“Even at half-time I didn’t think the lead was big enough because they are a world-class outfit.

“We had to stay in it and I was disappointed we conceded a maul try towards the end. It’s a learning curve for us.”