JOHN Brain has admitted he will stand or fall by the players he has brought into Worcester Rugby Club for next season's vital promotion campaign.

The Sixways director of rugby has been busy since January bringing new faces to Worcester and is happy to take responsibility if the dream of Premiership rugby is not realised next year.

Brain has brought in 11 players since the turn of the year and promoted five academy young guns to the first team squad and the former Gloucester coach is confident his new troops will repay his faith by helping Worcester to the National One title.

"I think a coach earns his corn by the players he brings in," said Brain.

"Andy Keast and I feel we have been pro-active since the turn of the year. We have targeted players rather than players targeting Worcester and virtually everyone we have wanted, we have been successful in bringing to the club.

"I will stand or fall by the players that have been brought to the club because they are my signings. I will take responsibility if we fail next season."

Worcester are still hoping to add to their new band with a fly-half and possibly a centre or a lock. But Brain rightly points out that it is the continuity factor which could be more telling next season.

The Sixways club have built up a reputation for chopping and changing over the past three years. However, with most of last season's key figures retained, the future is looking rosy.

"I think the club have been criticised in the past by supporters for a lack of continuity," he added. "Rightly so in my opinion, and we have made sure that we already had a team in place for next season.

"Some players have left but we know we have a team retained who know the club, know the patterns of play and have a team spirit. They are the guys in possession of the shirts at the moment because they've played well last year and are still training at Sixways and working hard.

"Because we began targeting players in January, we have been pro-active rather than reactive through agents and we have the ones we wanted.

"We'd hope to finish recruiting in June but if it takes longer for a player to commit, we will not sacrifice him for the sake of a few days, we will wait."