“It was a vital game to win. It could have gone either way for our season,” — that is head coach Richard Hill’s assessment of the importance of Warriors’ 35-11 win over London Irish on Friday night.

Worcester made it back-to-back try bonus points as they took their tally to seven in the last two matches with an impressive performance under the Sixways lights.

A win had been coming for Warriors, who have been on the wrong end of some cruel luck and poor refereeing decisions recently – as well as being architects of their own downfall at times — but none of that mattered to the home fans who left the game in joyous mood.

A delighted Hill said: “We have performed so well, but haven’t got the rewards for it. We had to get something for all the effort the players have put in.

“There were nerves leading into the game, it was massive for us. We thought the Northampton second-half would be a turning point for us and we had to prove it against Irish.

“We made hard work of it, but you could see the relief written all over the faces. It really was absolutely crucial for us.”

Hill also praised the impact of scrum-half Jonny Arr and centre Josh Matavesi, who had been called into the starting line-up. He said: “Neither have had much rugby recently, but both were very good.

“Jonny speeded the ball up. He hasn’t done 80 minutes for a long time, but I thought he was superb.

“He allowed us to play at real pace. Josh has improved with his defence and in attack he opens up possibilities for us.”

He added: “The players have worked hard on this attacking game. You can see some of the flair with our handling, the pop passes with the ball and out the back of the hand. The little kicks through.

“We are trying things and you could see the hunger. After scoring three tries we were running back and wanting that fourth score.

“Last year, we were content with winning games, now the mentality is different and we want to score more.

“Last season we only scored six tries in the first set of games, we have beaten that easily now and there is a real hunger to score now.”