THE second longest-serving player at Worcester Warriors, Alex Grove, believes standards “have gone through the roof” at Sixways.

Grove is a product of Warriors’ academy and only England full-back Chris Pennell has been at the club for longer.

The 27-year-old scored two tries in Warriors’ crucial 28-20 success against Newcastle Falcons on Saturday which lifted them to sixth in the Aviva Premiership.

It was Warriors’ biggest margin of victory in the Premiership since November 2012.

Grove said: “We have got special players in certain positions – people who can create something out of nothing like Cooper Vuna.

“We’ve not seen much of Bryce Heem but he could be of the same ilk and Chris Pennell is electric when he’s on his game.

“I am not putting myself in the same bracket as those players but we run a structured gameplan and the structure gives us license to get these guys into space.

“I think everyone in the squad understands what we want to do and everyone is more diligent around training and the standards across the board have gone through the roof.

“That is born out of competition and people’s desire to get into the team.”

Grove has played 147 times for Worcester after making his first-team debut back in the 2006/07 campaign.

He was restricted to 10 Championship appearances last term due to the form of Andy Symons and took his chance at the weekend because Wynand Olivier was getting married.

Grove said: “The A-League starts later this month and the club will probably give opportunities to guys who haven’t played much rugby.

“I thought I might be starting against Newcastle because Wynand was getting married.

“It’s nice to get an opportunity in the Premiership playing in front of your home fans.

“When you are not in the team you are trying to find ways to get back in.

“You can throw your toys out of the pram and look for sympathy, or you can work hard and when you are called upon give a really good account of yourself. Hopefully, I have done the latter.

“There’s no point in throwing your toys out of the pram. That’s not going to get you or the team anywhere.

“Wynand is clearly an excellent player and has a huge amount of experience – a lot more than I have got – and he’s a good guy.

“He’s got the shirt but I am pushing him and snapping at his heels and there are people pushing me. It’s a really competitive environment but also a healthy one."

Grove believes the arrival of younger players, whose opportunities were limited at their former clubs, has been a catalyst for the rise in standards.

He said: “When you have got hungry players who want to learn and better themselves it’s a healthy environment and a winning environment.

“We are not getting too ahead of ourselves. We’ve won two and lost two but we’re in a much better place than we’ve ever been when we’ve been in the Premiership before.

“When a club has big aspirations and is ambitious it’s attractive for players.

“Worcester, in the past, have probably had to pay big money to get in big players. Now players will want to come to Worcester because they can see where the place is going.”

Grove added: “We’ve got an ambitious group of coaches and an ambitious group of players and you tie that in with a lot of hard work and learning and it’s a good recipe for success.

“I said to Ryan Mills after the game against Newcastle that it’s not often this club has had a 5-0 win and felt a little bit disappointed. There’s so much more that we can do.”