DIRECTOR of rugby John Brain admitted this week the spectre of relegation hanging over Sixways is making it tough to recruit top talent.

Brain and his players have vowed to fight until the bitter end to avoid the drop but planning for next season is well advanced and the club's policy is being determined by their lowly position in the league.

The emphasis has been placed very much on keeping hold of the bedrock of the current squad. Pat Sanderson and Chris Horsman were put on long-term contracts last year and Brain has now agreed new deals with Matt Powell, Kai Horstmann and, most recently, Chris Fortey.

If Warriors are playing their rugby outside the Guinness Premiership next season, they will possess a squad which will be the envy of all their competitors.

Given that they will benefit from parachute payments, it is hard to imagine anything other than an immediate return.

"In the worst case scenario, the majority of this team will stay together," said Brain. "We are working hard behind the scene to make sure we keep the players we want to keep.

"Two-thirds of the squad are already under contract but the actual retention part of the job is never going to be that big."

But while other clubs have been topping up their squads with the best from home and abroad, Worcester are yet to announce a single new signing for next season and have lost one of their most promising players in Richard Blaze.

The one consolation is that the academy system which produced Blaze is beginning to unearth a number of other potential gems.

The club's under 19s put Leicester to the sword this week and four of their number will be involved with England tomorrow night.

Those players will undoubtably play a more prominent part next season and may form the nucleus of the squad in years to come.

"Recruitment is difficult because of the position we are in," said Brain. "There is no doubt about that but retention hasn't been difficult.

"Our academy is now beginning to produce a lot of very good, young players and we are on the verge in the next couple of years of being able to field quite a good proportion of homegrown Worcester players in our first team.

"That is testament to the work that Andrew Stanley is doing with the academy. That is another positive for us."

The really good news is that players of the pedigree of Horstmann and Sanderson are happy to muck in regardless of what league they find themselves in.

Horstmann, in particular, has more to lose than most but his decision to sign up for another two years speaks volumes for the team spirit at Sixways.

"We can be buoyed by that to some degree," said Brain of the decision of key players to commit themselves to Warriors.

"The spirit among the players remains good and the relationship between the players and the coaching staff is good. We are never far away from winning games.

"I think if the players were sensing they weren't really in the game each week and weren't competing with their opponents, they would soon get demoralised but the contrary is true.

"We don't behave and act like a camp that is demoralised. We went on the field last week and outplayed Gloucester for large parts of that game."