DEAN Richards believes Worcester Warriors can be a “force to be reckoned with” in the Aviva Premiership and should be in a “far better position” than they find themselves in.

Newcastle Falcons’ director of rugby was full of praise of Warriors after seeing his side slump to a 27-13 defeat at Sixways.

Trailing 13-6 at the break Worcester scored 21 unanswered points in a dominant second half showing.

But London Irish’s bonus-point 35-5 victory at Harlequins has cut the gap at the bottom to nine points with three games left.

“They have got an absolutely fantastic squad which probably belies the position they are in,” Richards said.

“They should be in a far better position than they are in as they are not an easy side to play against.

“They have not turned up for some games which has frustrated them quite a bit.

“But when they do turn up they are a real force to be reckoned with.”

Toby Flood and Chris Pennell traded penalties before Falcons notched a converted try with Vereniki Goneva going over just before half-time.

But Worcester hit back in the second period with David Denton crossing twice and Nick Schonert going over.

“Fair play to Worcester as I thought they were outstanding on the day,” said Richards who held a consultancy role at Warriors in 2010.

“We had a lot of inaccuracies when we had the ball in hand which meant we were defending a lot of the time.

“When you are defending a lot of the time against people like (Ben) Te’o, (Jackson) Willison, Pennell and Denton it is going to tell which ultimately it did.

“Even in the first half we didn’t have a look in then and again that came through our inaccuracies.

“At some stage that would come back to haunt us and it did.”