TOPPLING Saracens at Twickenham may be an unenviable task, but Aviva Premiership new boys Worcester Warriors have already shown the big games can draw out their best performances.

Worcester captain Gerrit-Jan van Velze believes the summer recruitment of players who have been there and done it before bodes well for their chances at the London double-header.

Worcester will face Saracens, who won the 2014/15 Premiership title in May, on Saturday before Wasps meet London Irish two hours later.

Warriors pipped perennial play-off challengers Northampton Saints 13-12 to get their new campaign off to a flying start last month.

With the likes of Ireland legend Donncha O’Callaghan and veteran back rower Phil Dowson at their disposal, van Velze says there is no reason why Warriors cannot take another scalp at Twickenham.

“We’ve kept the core group of players who we believe have the values and the attributes to be successful at Premiership level, then we’ve added a few faces where we have identified where we needed some new personalities,” said van Velze, who missed Warriors’ 28-20 victory against Newcastle Falcons with a knee injury.

“If you look at a signing like Donncha and the experience he brings to the party, these guys are going to be huge for us throughout the season and we’ve got exciting times still to come.”

The club will be treading into uncharted territory at the London double-header, having never participated at the event before.

Twickenham would be the perfect stage to show just how far Warriors have come under director of rugby Dean Ryan over the last two years though van Velze says his side have only just scratched the surface.

“We’re in a long process to make Worcester a very successful club and we know that’s not going to happen overnight,” the 27-year-old South African added.

“There was a lot of work done last year on that and we need to keep progressing throughout this year, too.”