DIRECTOR of rugby Alan Solomons admitted Worcester Warriors paid the price for their error-ridden display as they went down 34-5 to Midlands rivals Leicester Tigers at Sixways today.

A brace from full-back Telusa Veaniu and further tries from wing Jonah Holmes, prop Greg Bateman and centre Manu Tuilagi wrapped up a bonus-point win for the visitors.

Solomons felt the scoreline did not reflect Warriors’ effort as they trailed by just 10 points going into the last 11 minutes after Alafoti Fa’osiliva’s first-half try.

But he admitted mistakes and penalties given away at “key moments” resulted in them coming away empty-handed from the Aviva Premiership clash.

“I don’t think the scoreline reflected the day’s play nor did it reflect the huge effort that the boys put in,” Solomons said.

“But at the end of the day we made far too many mistakes, gave away penalties at key moments and thirdly you have got to give Matt Toomua credit.

“He managed the game very well from their perspective.

“We were buried in our half for just about the whole game and their ball retention was good.”

Solomons continued: “They capitalised on our errors. They used our mistakes and penalties to secure field position and kicked well.

“When they got into the right position on the field they then held onto the ball.

“It was an attritional style of rugby but it worked for them.”

Warriors also suffered a double injury blow as centre Ryan Mills sustained a blow to his ankle before scrum-half Luke Baldwin had to be taken off on a stretcher with a "bad" knee injury.

Solomons said he did not know the exact extent of the duo’s injuries but conceded the loss of Baldwin on the hour mark had a “massive impact” as he was forced to reshuffle his side.

“It was really sad for Luke who had a decent opportunity to have a good run,” Solomons said.

“But sadly he seems to have suffered a bad injury and that made it difficult for us with Shilly (Jamie Shillcock) having to move to nine, Jacko (Jackson Willison) to 10 and Penns (Chris Pennel) to 13.

“At that stage there were 20 minutes to go and any prospect we had (of winning) fell away with that injury to Baldwin.”

He added: “I have not spoken to the medics at this stage but I will be speaking to them to find out the exact nature of Luke’s injury. But it does not look good.

“We are just going to have a look at Ryan’s ankle and wait until we get the medical report on it.

“He tried to run it off but it was too sore and too painful so he had to come off.”

Warriors’ defeat to Tigers followed their 22-9 reverse at relegation rivals London Irish the previous week.

The Exiles lost 24-16 at Wasps today, meaning Worcester remain 12 points clear of the drop zone with five games left.

“I thought we performed a lot better than last week and got no reward for the effort that we put in,” Solomons said.

“Unfortunately at this level you get punished for your errors and penalties that you give away.”