HEAD coach Rory Duncan is delighted to see Worcester Warriors overcome their set-piece struggles and make “massive improvements” in recent weeks.

A dysfunctional lineout has been key to Warriors’ downfall in a number of matches this season.

But since their horror show in the 32-6 thrashing by Northampton Saints last month Worcester have been secure at the lineout.

Warriors chalked up a 90 per cent success rate in the 25-17 loss at Saracens before catching 92 per cent of their throws in the 21-19 victory over Bath.

They have only failed to nail two of their past 23 lineouts – a record that has pleased Duncan who is in charge of Worcester’s forwards.

“You only have to think back to the game against Bath at The Rec where we struggled and then look at the performance at the weekend so there have been massive improvements made in that department,” Duncan said.

“It is frustrating when it doesn’t work well but there are a number of elements to the lineout.

“It only takes one of those elements to go wrong in order to not get the execution to 100 per cent.

“But I believe that the team is in a better space in terms of lineouts at the moment.

“Things have been going well in the past couple of games.

“We had good successes in the lineout against Saracens and Bath which just gives us something to be able to build on.”

Duncan has also been impressed with the impact of lock Michael Fatialofa who recovered from a virus to start against Bath.

“Michael has been running the lineout,” Duncan said.

“He missed the Sarries game as he was ill.

“But he is an explosive athlete.

“We have seen that with his ball carrying and from a defensive perspective he has also put in quite a few big hits.

“He is very intelligent with the way he handles his lineout calling.”

Warriors’ scrum has also been performing well as the pack put pressure on Bath during the 18 minutes of added time before Bryce Heem went over and Duncan Weir dispatched the match-winning conversion.

“I think the last 18 or 19 minutes were the longest in my life, but obviously very happy with the end result,” Duncan said.

“The scrum is one of those areas where anything can go wrong and you are always a bit nervous due to the referee’s interpretation.

“But the forwards handled themselves well and obviously gave good pictures for the referee to work with.

“What was most pleasing about it was that we put our replacements on, they had a job to do and they did it.

“A guy like Gareth Milasinovich might have only come on at half-time but it turned out to be a 60-minute game for him.

“You always want your bench to make an impact and I believe that they did that.

“(Scrum coach) Mefin Davies has done a great job with the guys in the scrum.

“He has got a good relationship with the front row and they all understand each other.

“The scrum is a plus point in our game and we want to build on that.”