WORCESTER may be out of the cup and out of contention in the league but there is still plenty at stake in their last two games according to scrum-half Matt Powell.

The club currently sit in 11th spot in the Guinness Premiership -- their worst position all season -- and Powell believes it is not an accurate reflection on the strides made over the last 12 months.

"At the moment we are one from bottom and it doesn't make great reading for us," he said. "We have got to make sure we are progressing and the way we have been playing this year, we have definitely improved.

"But we've got to get the best league position we possibly can to reflect that. There's a lot to play for."

Warriors might have been looking forward to a European final if they had held on to their lead against Gloucester in Saturday's semi-final.

And Powell accepts his share of responsibility for the painful defeat at Kingsholm.

"I think we all believe that when we get in that position we can win it," he said. "We had line-outs and scrums in positions of the field where we could have put real pressure on them.

"But we didn't execute that very well, be it not winning the line-out or a bad pass from nine to 10 or whatever. Those are the things letting us down."

Despite the disappointment of last week, the 27-year-old believes he has benefited from starting the last four games but admits he must continue to develop if he is going to keep England international Andy Gomarsall out of the side.

"It's been good to play the last four weeks," said the Abergavenny-born player. "There are things in my game which I need to keep improving. It's been good to have a run of games rather than just come off the bench or play the odd game and not play a couple of weeks.

"You could say you should be a lot fresher for each game but in my position you gain confidence when you play every week. It does help you in that position.

"But it has also been good having that competition from Andy. He's obviously a class player. You do realise that you have to be at the top of your game each week. There's quite a lot of pressure I put on myself to do that."

And that competition is set to become more intense next year with Powell's namesake Ryan joining the club from Cardiff and youngster Nick Runciman pushing for a place in the first team.

He said: "More competition is going to put added pressure on both Andy and I and hopefully it is going to bring the best out of us.

"I think that's the way the club is going. We are recruiting quality guys, not just two quality guys in each position but maybe three."

The high point for Powell this season has been a call-up to train with the Wales squad during the Six Nations and, while international recognition is not his main priority, he would love to be involved again.

"I don't really see it as a must," he said. "If I'm playing well with the club that will look after itself. It was an unbelievable honour to be called up to train with the guys.

"I was quite disappointed that I couldn't sneak on the bench for the France game. Just being involved, working under Scott Johnson was a fantastic experience.

"But it's not something I judge success and failure on."