THE first week of 2012 will be a crucial one for Worcester Warriors’ hopes and aspirations.

The outcome of the New Year’s Day trip to Wasps and the visit of Gloucester six days later will most likely decide how the rest of the Premiership pans out for the Sixways club.

Victory at Adams Park would see Warriors leap-frog their hosts and they could also go ahead of Bath if the West Country side fail to beat third-placed London Irish at The Rec.

Should Richard Hill’s men manage to win at Wasps and back that up with a home success over mid-table Gloucester on January 7, they would be very much back in the shake-up for a top-six finish and the much-coveted Heineken Cup qualification.

However, defeats to Dai Young’s inconsistent Wasps followed by a derby disappointment would all but condemn Warriors to nothing more than scrapping for 11th spot for the remainder of the term.

A brace of positive Worcester results early in January would also be a demoralising body blow for bottom side Newcastle Falcons, who are currently six points below Warriors.

Should results favour the Kingston Park outfit, who host Northampton Saints tomorrow before entertaining Exeter Chiefs the following weekend, Warriors could yet find themselves bottom of the pile before 2012 is even two weeks old. Indeed, a pivotal time for all at Sixways.

Despite the gravitas of the coming matches, head coach Hill remains positive ahead of Sunday’s trip to High Wycombe.

He said: “It’s a quick turnaround after the Leicester game and a crucial period that really tests your squad. We didn’t get any injuries against Leicester so we are in pretty good shape. Wasps have a few more injury problems than we have got.

“You have two teams who lost the previous games so they’ve got to get their heads around preparing for what is now a crucial match.

“We are just a few points behind them so a win would jump us above them. But I listened to Dai after their heavy defeat at Gloucester and he was talking about a reaction too.

“When you concede six tries to one, that is a bit of a thumping while we conceded four tries to one which is not good either. Both teams need a reaction.

“They have probably suffered a bit more than us with injuries, but in fairness to Dai he has not used that as an excuse and players have come in to do a job.

“They are missing some key people and their game is normally built on some big powerful forward runners. With Simon Shaw moving, Joe Worsley going, John Hart injured and Steve Thompson retiring, they have lost some big ball-carriers in the pack and are finding life difficult.”

Hill added: “The threat from Wasps will come in the three-quarters. Leicester had a dominant scrum against us and a very good set-piece — we didn’t get near their line-out.

“Wasps will be very different, the strength they have is in the backs with Nick Robinson, Riki Flutey, Christian Wade, Tom Varndell and Richard Haughton — an electric three-quarter line.

“The problem they had against Gloucester was not getting the ball to them. Our main role will be to stem that flow too because they are a lot more dangerous than Leicester are.”