DIRECTOR of rugby Dean Ryan admits Worcester Warriors “haven’t got the depth of a Premiership side”.

The Sixways boss acknowledges injuries to “four or five front-line players” would leave Warriors struggling in the top tier.

Ryan said Warriors could not afford to take chances during their European Challenge Cup campaign, which yielded just one win from six matches.

“We haven’t got the depth of a Premiership side. If we had played the senior group in Europe, we would have run the risk of losing some of them, which would have made an impact when we’re in the league,” said Ryan.

“Nobody is naively thinking we can operate without four or five front-line players at the levels required in the Premiership. That’s unrealistic. What I am concerned about now is we have got the majority of that group fit.”

Warriors have lost their last 11 matches and visit basement boys London Irish on Sunday (1pm).

Worcester are 10th and their only victory in Europe was 19-3 at home against La Rochelle in November.

Ryan said: “We saw it (Europe) as development versus opportunity. From the outset we wanted to find out whether we could expose the youngsters to the types of standards required in the Premiership. It highlighted some people are not ready for that sort of pressure.

“Some people have to work harder to see how they can stay in games, rather than think they are ready. Others have to work a bit harder to get closer to the first team.”

Ryan said Warriors’ results in their European campaign were important but the exercise was more about development than winning matches.

“We’ve got a better idea of who can play at this level,” said Ryan. “If we were looking to get a different set of results, we would have picked a different team.

“We selected something we thought would benefit the depth of the squad.

“I am not saying the results do not matter, they do. But, at the same time, if I had wanted that particular tournament to be about winning, I’d have selected differently.”