Carlisle: Made a difference for Wasps

The Londoners had to rely on Richard Birkett's late try to see them to a narrow win, having had little to show for their first-half domination.

"In the first half we were in control but the Worcester defence was excellent," Young said.

"We had a lot of possession but we didn't look threatening. Our kicking game wasn't accurate enough and we could have been more potent in attack.

"We showed character for 15 minutes or so to snatch that win. One piece of magic from Joe Simpson got us to within five metres of their line and into Birkett's hands and over the line."

Disappointed Worcester coach Richard Hill said: "The result was fair tonight; we were technically not good enough. We failed to get parity in the set-piece, we lost our first three line-outs and we were penned in our own third for the whole of the first half."

The introduction of Aleki Lutui and Joe Carlisle at the interval improved matters, the latter landing three penalties to take his team within sight of victory.

Hill added: "Our line-out was poor in the first half and Lutui improved this and added something around the field.

"Also in the first half our kicking strategy was poor and I couldn't see any way that we could get out of our third. Carlisle looked lively in the second half and he and our defence were major plusses."