DIRECTOR of rugby Alan Solomons was pleased with the performance of his “rusty” Worcester Warriors players after beating Sale Sharks 35-3 in their Premiership Cup opener.

Following a 10-day break Warriors’ stars returned to steer their team to a five-try triumph over a Sharks side largely made up of academy aces at Sixways on Friday night.

Josh Adams, Francois Hougaard and Francois Venter crossed the whitewash to give Warriors a 21-3 advantage at half-time.

Worcester’s penalty count rose in an error-strewn second half with Gareth Milasinovich and Matt Cox receiving yellow cards.

But tries from Pierce Phillips and Matti Williams saw the hosts claim maximum points and extend their winning run to four games in all competitions.

“You could see that we haven’t played for three weeks,” Solomons said.

“They had a 10-day break after that block of six Premiership matches which was heavy so for a first game back I thought we did well.

“But clearly we need some more game-time and we will get it as the weeks go by.”

Solomons insisted it was “critical” his key men got minutes under their belts as Warriors gear up for their return to Premiership action on November 17 when they visit Bath.

“We are a little bit rusty,” Solomons said.

“But I think as we play that rust will come away.

“There were some good stuff out there and that’s why you have got to see that performance in context.

“When you put it into context the side hadn’t played together for a while so I am very happy with the performance.”

Warriors’ lineout struggled at times but Solomons stressed “there was nothing else of major concern” with his side's display.

“The lineout is a combination of factors,” Solomons continued.

“It’s the assembly, the call, the throw, the jump and the support. It can be one or a number of them (that go wrong) so we have got to have a look at it.

“But I thought the contesting of the lineout was pretty good for both sides.”

On Warriors’ ill-disciplined, Solomons added: “I would rather not comment until I have looked at the film but the penalty count was fairly heavily against us.”

Worcester failed to score when Sale were down to 14 men at the start of the second period after Paolo Odogwe saw yellow.

But Solomons commended the visitors who were captained by 20-year-old flanker Ben Curry for the effort they showed.

“I am not disappointed with our performance,” Solomons said.

“I thought that we performed well for a team that hadn’t played for three weeks.

“Sale came out all guns blazing and full marks to them.

“I thought they were very physical so we got a really good game out there. It was a good hit out for us.

“I suppose having Josh Beaumont and Ben Curry playing in their side made a huge difference to the other players.”