HEAD coach Carl Hogg praised the “effort” and “character” of his players after Worcester Warriors battled to a 19-3 win against La Rochelle in the European Challenge Cup.

Hogg says Warriors are trying to build “momentum” in their season after winning two of their opening four matches in the Aviva Premiership.

“The effort was outstanding because it was played in very difficult conditions,” said Hogg.

“It was wet and windy and hard to retain the ball and apply pressure on La Rochelle but I thought the effort levels were outstanding.

“We were under the cosh for the last 20 to 30 minutes but the character in the side was fantastic.”

He added: “It wasn’t a magnificent spectacle but we saw a level of courage and desire in the last 20 to 30 minutes and good teams are built on that.

“Sometimes you have to roll your sleeves up and work your way through and we achieved that.

“It was frustrating – both sides will be frustrated with the flow of the game. There were a lot of errors and knock-ons.

“There was never any momentum in the game. There was a lack of cohesion in both groups and the wet weather dictated that it was never going to be a free-flowing and end to end game.”

Hogg felt Ben Howard, who scored the only try, had a major impact on the match.

“Ben was the dominant personality in the game,” he said.

“There wasn’t a huge amount of free-flowing rugby and it was slow and turgid stuff at times but I thought Ben lit up the game when he was involved.”

Warriors travel to Italy on Saturday to face Zebre in their second group four match and Hogg is hoping Worcester can make it two wins from two.

“Zebre will be difficult. It’s away from home and any competition away from home is tough but it’s one we are looking forward to," he said.