WORCESTER Warriors director of rugby Dean Ryan is tabling talks with former World Cup referee Tony Spreadbury.

Ryan has been vocal in his frustration at the inconsistency of referees this season and believes his side have, at times, been forced to abandon their catch-and-drive weapon.

“We have met with Championship referee development manager Steve Leyshon and we are meeting Tony Spreadbury, the overall manager,” said Ryan.

“We are pretty disappointed with the levels of inconsistency of refereeing during matches.

“We recognise that we are in the Championship and there’s a different development stage, but we are not happy with the inconsistency around certain aspects, especially the set-piece and the driving line-out.

“If there’s a theme that’s wrong, we can amend it.

“But the week-to-week roller-coaster that we find ourselves on when we are continually showing why we think we were right in our concerns and then it not being contested that way the week after, is frustrating.”

Warriors host Cornish Pirates at Sixways tomorrow and Ryan has been particularly frustrated after his club’s victories against Jersey and London Scottish in the Greene King IPA Championship.

The catch-and-drive from a line-out has been one of Warriors’ most attacking try-scoring weapons this term. But Ryan believes his team’s forward dominance has not been rewarded by officials.

“If we are looking to win a game then we should drive — but if you drive for 30 minutes and then don’t get a penalty, you start to question things,” said Ryan.

“Against Jersey, we had three tries before half-time and they started backing out of the drive, which is illegal, and we could not drive for 30 minutes after that,” he said.

“We have already had to alter our game but it’s not right that we should have to.”