WORCESTER Warriors will face two trips to France in next season's European Challenge Cup after being drawn in the same pool as Clermont Auvergne and competition rookies Albi.

The group is completed by Italian outfit Viadana, who Warriors are scheduled to play in a pre-season game in August.

Worcester reached the semi-final of the competition last season but are unseeded this time around.

The pool matches will begin on the weekend of October 20 and Warriors face all three opponents home and away with the five pool winners and top three runners-up progressing to the quarter-finals.

Meanwhile, Richard Blaze believes the England Under 21 side must raise their game if they are to finish their World Championship campaign on a winning note.

Despite securing a 13-11 victory over Wales in the penultimate match, the Worcester lock believes they must improve in their meeting with Ireland on Sunday.

"We know we were lucky to have won playing far from our best rugby and now we have to look to the last match against Ireland on Sunday to put that right," said Blaze.

"We tried to play too much rugby early on and they took advantage of that. In the second-half we performed better and played smarter. Our scrum was a bit disappointing. We have to work on that but the team spirit is good."

A try from prop David Wilson, a conversion from Ryan Lamb and two penalties from Toby Flood accounted for a Welsh side who also included Blaze's Worcester club-mate Craig Everitt.