WORCESTER Warriors boss Gary Gold has warned his players not to switch off for "a second” against a “lethal” Wasps side at Sixways on Sunday (3pm).

Wasps, who lost in last year’s Aviva Premiership final, got their campaign off to a flier as they scored seven tries in a 50-35 thrashing of Sale Sharks last weekend.

Gold described the Coventry side’s performance as “formidable” and fears his team could also be in for a “tough day” if they produce another mistake-ridden showing.

Warriors made numerous handling errors, missed tackles and conceded several penalties in their 35-8 defeat at Newcastle Falcons.

And Gold insisted his troop must “look after the ball” better or risk putting themselves in the firing line against their high-flying opponents.

“It was an absolutely unacceptable result (at Newcastle), but more worrying than the result was our second half performance,” he said.

“There were things that we were doing on the field that were unrecognisable.

“You are going to get beaten by better teams, but every now and again you somehow beat yourself by making continuous errors and we did that.

“But if we thought Friday night was tough, it is going to get a lot tougher this weekend.

“Wasps were formidable against Sharks.

“They have got a lethal combination of an expansive game and a power game and if you are off your game for a second as you saw Sale were then it is a tough day.”

Wasps won their last meeting 40-33, but Warriors bagged five tries at the Ricoh Arena despite being down to 14 men when Bryce Heem saw red.

However, Gold believes it is “dangerous” to reflect too much on their performance in March as Worcester prepare to take on a Wasps team “brimming with confidence”.

“From our point of view we want to right the wrongs (of last Friday’s loss at Falcons),” Gold said.

“We have got a massive amount of respect for Wasps.

“But I think now it is about concentrating on the things we need to do right as that’s what we got wrong.

“I can take nothing away from Newcastle’s victory.

“It was emphatic, but I just think we offered them too many opportunities by the mistakes we made. We made silly errors and coughed up the ball.

“I think no matter who you play against if you want to build phases and exert pressure you need to look after the ball.

“It is about players taking responsibility and realising that we have got quite a simple but effective plan.

“We have got a good attacking team and we know we can score tries, so we need to put ourselves in the right areas of the field to give ourselves the best chance to score them.

“If we don’t do that then we will create problems for ourselves.”