FRUSTRATED Worcester Warriors head coach Carl Hogg lamented his side’s poor discipline after a hugely disappointing 22-15 home defeat against Zebre in the European Challenge Cup.

Warriors were never ahead against their Italian visitors, who bossed the scrum exchanges and kicked five penalties in a workmanlike triumph on a bitterly cold afternoon.

Scrum-half Luke Baldwin and wing Dean Hammond crossed for the hosts but the defeat ended Worcester’s slim hopes of reaching the knockout stages from Pool Four.

Hogg said: “It was hugely frustrating. I thought we played a lot of rugby but we weren’t as clinical and accurate as we should have been.

“Our discipline let us down because Zebre came with a reasonably limited game-plan and we fuelled that with ill-discipline, especially in the middle third.

“We wanted to get off the line aggressively with line-speed but, if we were going to chop them, we had to be in that tackle area and move very quickly.

"We didn’t clear that tackle area as sharply as we could have and we fell foul of the referee’s whistle.

“We allowed them opportunities to kick at goal or sit inside our 22, so it was very frustrating.”

The Italians had the upper hand in the scrum exchanges throughout the match, which meant Warriors struggled for a platform from which to attack.

“We said the set-piece was always going to be a challenge and it was in Zebre, especially with the wet conditions, but I thought this was an opportunity for us to play more rugby and try to play away from the set-piece, one of their strengths,” said Hogg.

“We weren’t as accurate as we should have been and consistency is a key challenge for us up-front – we had some reasonable scrums and some poor scrums.

“We also had three or four opportunities inside their 22 to nail a line-out and we didn’t take chances. We have to look at that and be harsh on ourselves on why we didn’t nail the opportunities.”

Despite dominating the opening exchanges, Warriors trailed 10-0 after 19 minutes, compounded by a soft try for Kayle Van Zyl.

Hogg said: “They came off a line-out and we didn’t get our organisation sharp enough and we were left slow in the defensive fold.

"It was almost their first opportunity inside our 22 and they executed to score, which was disappointing.”

Warriors remain bottom of the group after just one win from five matches and double defeats to holders Gloucester and Zebre.

Worcester round off their European campaign on Friday at French side La Rochelle, who they defeated at Sixways in November.

Summing up their European campaign, Hogg said: “It was always going to be a tough group, especially with La Rochelle, Zebre and Gloucester.

“We viewed this as an opportunity to change the group and create chances for players to put their hands up.

“I thought we started off really well and we disappointed at Zebre in difficult conditions when we played into their hands around set-piece.

“In the back-to-back matches against Gloucester, our endeavour levels were really high but Gloucester were a little bit more mature and experienced in their group of players.

“This match was frustrating and disappointing because it was an opportunity at home and the conditions meant we could have applied our game on the field but we didn’t get there.”