REFEREES in the Aviva Premiership adopted a “pre-meditated view” of prop Nick Schonert, claimed Worcester Warriors’ high performance director Nick Johnston.

The 24-year-old South Africa-born forward often fell foul of the whistle at scrum-time in the early stages of last season’s campaign.

But Schonert was penalised far less in the second half of the season as he made 20 Premiership appearances in total.

In fact, Schonert was one of Worcester's most consistent performers as they finished 10th on their return to the top tier.

Johnston said Warriors were keen to work in “partnership” with match officials to overcome any issues with their interpretation of the laws.

“We felt there was a pre-meditated view towards him (Schonert) and when it was analysed we were proved right,” said Johnston.

“To be fair to Tony Spreadbury and his team at the RFU they took it on board and went away and came back with some solutions for us.

“It’s about a partnership and I think referees looked at things differently and realised he (Schonert) wasn’t the villain all the time.

“The coaches adjusted Nick and changed some of his technique and the referees looked at it differently and looked at the opposition.

“Rugby is a cut-throat business and if people see a weakness they will try to exploit it.

“It’s like a pantomime sometimes and it got to that stage but things tend to balance themselves out over a period of time.”

Last season, former Warriors director of rugby Dean Ryan launched a verbal assault on the Premiership’s refereeing system after Warriors fell to a 16-14 defeat to Bath.

He claimed a secret document showed Warriors had been subjected to the highest number of incorrect decisions by match officials in the top tier.

Johnston said: “I have spoken to Tony (Spreadbury) and we want the referees in the club because we want to understand how they work and how they see things happening on the field.

“The more exposure we get to that by right we will understand and get better at them. The game is trying to do the right things and it’s about partnership working.”

Johnston admitted the scrum was an area of the game which the sport's governing bodies are looking to make improvements.

“There are a lot of restarts in a game which nobody wants,” said Johnston.

"It affects the game and there will be efforts to speed that up.”