BOSS Alan Solomons has urged his players to stay focused as Worcester Warriors build up to their “mammoth” meeting with London Irish at the Madejski Stadium on Sunday (1pm).

Warriors moved 16 points clear of bottom club Irish following a 25-15 victory over local rivals Gloucester at Sixways on Saturday.

Solomons admitted Worcester had put themselves in a “good position” to beat the drop with seven games to go in the Aviva Premiership.

But with Irish still battling to retain their top-flight status Solomons said his team cannot afford to let their focus waver.

“By focusing game by game, planning carefully and obviously playing well we have put ourselves into a good position,” Solomons said. “But we must maintain our focus.”

Warriors’ win over Gloucester came seven days after their 6-5 triumph at defending champions Exeter Chiefs.

Irish have not won in the league since defeating Harlequins on the opening day of the season and squandered a 14-3 half-time lead to lose 25-17 at Northampton Saints last weekend.

“We have planned the whole season and knew this was a big block of four games,” Solomons said.

“Then we said we were going to take one game at a time. Obviously the lads must enjoy the moment and deserve to do so as they have put in a big shift.

“But then our focus is on London Irish. We have got to worry about ourselves and try to control what we can.

“All we can control are the games we play which put us in a better position.

“But we know we are going to have a mammoth game at the weekend.

“Fortunately we have got an eight-day turnaround which will help us. We will focus on our recovery but the players are going to get two days off.”

Warriors got off to a flier against Gloucester with Jonny Arr crossing inside the opening four minutes.

Jamie Shillcock and Josh Adams then went over as the hosts opened up a 22-10 advantage at half-time.

Worcester could not score a fourth try for a bonus point as Chris Pennell’s penalty helped to settle the contest.

But Solomons insisted he was happy with a four-point victory despite admitting his side missed a “golden opportunity” to secure maximum points.

“It would have been fantastic to get a bonus point,” Solomons said.

“But that would have been genuinely a bonus as we were up against a very good side.

“Yes, we got three good tries in the first half but in the second our line-out struggled.

“We had one chance when Jacko (Jackson Willison) was held up on the line and it came out to Millsy (Ryan Mills) but I think the guy shot out and dislodged the ball. That was our golden opportunity.

“But that would be churlish to say that. The boys did fantastically.

“Gloucester are a really good side so to back up a massive game against Exeter with another win I have got to give the players full credit for doing that.”