TRAINING has been “more physical” than in previous pre-seasons, according to Worcester Warriors head coach Carl Hogg.

Warriors are preparing for their first full season under director of rugby Gary Gold following his arrival in late January.

Hogg has been at Sixways since 2013 where he linked up with Dean Ryan before being elevated to a dual leadership role with Nick Johnston after his former Gloucester colleague’s exit last summer.

He is now part of Gold’s backroom staff which includes defence and kicking strategy coach Omar Mouneimne and head of athletic performance Paddy Anson who both joined the Aviva Premiership club towards the end of last season.

And Hogg admitted there had been “a lot more contact and collision” in training as they gear up for the new season which kicks off on Friday, September 1.

“I think we have been much more physical this year,” said Hogg, whose side beat Hartpury 55-21 in a friendly last Saturday.

“We have done a lot of stuff around the tackle area and a lot more contact and collision than we have done in the past.

“I thought you saw the merits of it during that 80 minutes.

“Right across our backline and forwards we very physical in the tackle area and that’s something we are looking to build on.”

Hogg also believes giving players an extended break after the toils of battling to escape relegation last term will pay dividends this season.

“We wanted to give them a longer period off,” Hogg continued.

“The Premiership is over 22 rounds and it is nine months of very intense rugby.”

Injury concerns are increasing at the club with Ryan Mills (hip and shoulder) and Max Stelling (ankle) set to miss the start of the season.

Chris Pennell (calf), Carl Kirwan (shoulder), Niall Annett and Gareth Milasinovich (both hamstring) are all battling back from injuries.

There are also fears over the fitness of David Denton, Simon Kerrod, Luke Baldwin and Dewald Potgieter who were forced off against Hartpury.

But Hogg insisted his players were in buoyant mood as they look ahead to Friday’s clash at Birmingham Moseley (7.30pm).

“We went well as a group (against Hartpury),” he said.

“Clearly there are areas that we need to work on, but it is great to get everyone out there and see how physical we can be.

“The spirit in the camp is fantastic.

“We did have an extended period off, but the boys have come back in great shape and more importantly a really good mental space and we are ready to build on that.

“We will come back in today and we will go live again on Tuesday against each other.

“We will take this week as a training week, the same as we did last week as we did not taper back for the game at the weekend. It was part of the training load.

“We will taper towards the Munster game (on Thursday, August 24) and obviously have a natural training week going into the Newcastle game (on Friday, September 1).”