DIRECTOR of rugby Gary Gold has called for “patience” and "strong leadership" as Worcester Warriors go into battle with Bath at The Rec on Saturday (3pm).

Warriors languish at the foot of the table after picking up a solitary point from their first five Aviva Premiership games.

Despite their sorry start, Gold insisted there was no “crisis” at Warriors, but admitted his side have a “problem” and needed to fix it before it was too late.

“If the guys were rolling over, capitulating and not trying hard, then we have got a real crisis,” he said.

“We have got a problem as we are not playing well enough to beat the opposition at the moment and we need to fix that.

“But we don’t have a crisis because I am really encouraged by the heart and the character that the guys are showing.

“I can genuinely see in their eyes how disappointed and hurt they are when we are not winning games and they want to get better.”

Warriors have scored the fewest amount of points in the league having crossed the whitewash just five times.

Gold said he was “annoyed” at where his side found themselves in the standings after the opening month of the campaign.

However, he stressed this was now a time for “cool heads” and for his team to focus on executing their game plan.

“Confidence is an amazing characteristic,” said Gold whose side have never beaten Bath at The Rec.

“When you have got it all you want to do is bottle it and when you don’t have it you wait for it to come.

“This poses really big questions about management and leadership of coaches.

“My personal view is that when things don’t go well is the time for us to be very strong leaders and divorce ourselves from the emotions.

“I am pretty annoyed that we haven’t won a game of rugby and so are the boys.

“But what we need to focus on is the processes. That’s our issue at the moment.

“I don’t personally think we have put enough time and energy into the things that we can control, so there is no point in worrying about what the opposition do or what the referee does.

“I just think that tough times require patience, cool heads and strong leadership not only from myself but the players as well.

“If they continue to exhibit that I think the tide will turn.”