DIRECTOR of rugby Gary Gold has credited his “exceptional” pack of forwards for laying the platform for Worcester Warriors’ first Aviva Premiership victory of the season.

Bryce Heem bagged a hat-trick while his fellow winger Josh Adams also crossed the whitewash in the bonus-point 30-15 win over Northampton Saints.

But Gold felt Warriors’ ability to match Saints' physicality at a rain-soaked Sixways proved crucial as they went on to claim maximum points and move off the bottom.

“We wanted to try to play quite fast when we had the ball in hand, but the conditions made that a little bit more of a challenge,” Gold said.

“But the foundation that the forwards set was extraordinary. They were absolutely fantastic.

“I thought the way the boys scrummed was fantastic, our drive got a little bit of traction and we stopped their drive very effectively. That’s a power tool for Northampton and our breakdown work was very good.

“They have got very good defenders and forwards so we needed to produce a full-package and I thought we did that.”

Stephen Myler opened the scoring with a fifth-minute penalty as Saints put Warriors on the back foot in the early stages.

But a three-pointer from Jono Lance settled his side down before Heem scored his first try on 24 minutes.

The Kiwi flier grabbed a second 10 minutes later with Lance’s conversion giving Worcester a 15-3 advantage at half-time.

A Lance penalty and an Adams try saw the hosts extend their lead to 23-3.

Northampton hit back with tries from Ben Foden and Jamie Gibson, with Myler converting the latter to close the gap to 23-15.

But Heem got his third which Chris Pennell converted at the death to wrap up the win while Rob Horne received his second yellow card for a tip-tackle on Lance.

“We knew that we had to match Northampton physically and I think we did very well in our set-piece and our scrum functioned very well,” Gold said.

“But that physicality needs to move over to defence in try to stop them.

“It was quite disappointing that they got in for a couple of tries, but they are quality team who aspire to be in the top four.

“You have to match that and then you have to take your opportunities when they come.

“We had three entries in their 22 in the first 35 minutes. We weren’t creating field position and we didn’t create opportunities.

“But when we did get them we rounded them off well.”