WORCESTER Warriors captain Ted Hill labelled today's heavy 14-62 defeat at home to Northampton Saints as "unacceptable" as visitors run riot in second-half Sixways.

Warriors conceded 47 points in the final 35 minutes, largely down to the fact Chris Ashton was sent-off for an illegal clear-out with half an hour to play.

Hill admitted it was a bitter pill to swallow and there were no excuses.

"It's a tough one to take," he said.

"We're bitterly disappointed as a team, we know that's an unacceptable result and we're going to have to go away and have a good look at ourselves as individuals and come back against Quins in a couple of weeks.

"We cannot control decisions (on the red card), we have to react better that that. We can't use red and yellow cards as excuses, we can't blame those things, we have to look at ourselves."

Worcester had only been down 15-7 at half-time and dominated for large parts of the opening 40 minutes but could not make the most of their opportunities and eventually capitulated.

"Our retention of the ball in that gold zone, where we want to be converting, we were too slow to our attacking breakdowns and looking into the second-half, we struggled to stop their momentum.

"It's tough because each week we're having difficult results but we're working so hard in training. We know people think of Worcester as a team who cough up ball easily so we are desperately trying to change that narrative.

"We want to change that mindset around us."

The result means it's now 12 league defeats in a row for Worcester, who sit bottom of the table, seven points adrift of Gloucester in 11th.

With relegation being scrapped this year due to the impact of Covid, Hill was asked whether that had impacted performances.

"The fire hasn't gone," he emphasised.

"As a squad and a team, we are desperate for results, relegation or not. We are professionals and we want to go out each week and give the best account of ourselves and this week I think we embarrassed ourselves a little bit.’