BACK rower Marco Mama admitted he and his Worcester Warriors team-mates would not be able to look back on the past season with much pride.

Warriors finished 11th in the Aviva Premiership while they failed to get beyond the group stages in the European Challenge Cup and Anglo-Welsh Cup.

Mama felt Warriors’ players showed “grit” and “determination” to steer themselves to safety, moving 14 points clear of relegated London Irish, as they chalked up seven league wins, including memorable triumphs at Exeter Chiefs and Leicester Tigers.

But having suffered the disruption of a change in director of rugby and been left “staring down at relegation at times” Mama said they were keen to “draw a line” under the 2017-18 season and move on.

“It’s definitely not a season that we will look back on and say ‘Wow, we had a great time’,” said the 27-year-old who has recently returned from a serious knee injury.

“We have been through some tough times. There have been some real ups and downs and a lot of different changes.

“But we showed determination to finish some of the teams off that we did as we had great wins away from home.

“I wasn’t playing in those matches but I really enjoyed the passion that we showed.

“But we weren’t consistent enough to be able to look back on the season and be really proud of it.”

Mama conceded the “most disruptive” part of the season came when Gary Gold ended his reign as boss to start his new role as USA head coach.

Alan Solomons, who had been working as a coaching consultant at Sixways since October, was then appointed director of rugby on a three-year deal in late December.

“Probably the most disruptive thing is changing your (director of rugby) as he is your go-to man,” Mama said.

“He dictates your style of rugby and the players that he likes. It is a massive change for any team to take on.

“But regardless of that you saw the grit and determination of some of the players out there and we still had some moments where we came together.

“I am sure the guys will remember Tigers and Exeter away and I will definitely remember the Quins game at home where we beat them.

“There will be parts of the season which we really enjoyed but at the end of the day 11th is not a place where we want to be.”

Going into the final weekend of the regular season Warriors had the chance to overtake Harlequins and Northampton Saints into ninth position.

But they let slip a 14-0 lead to lose 32-24 to Saints at Franklin’s Gardens to remain stuck in the bottom two.

“If you look at our season we have been 11th almost throughout,” Mama said.

“It would have been nice to say ‘We have been through some tough periods this season and stared down at relegation at times but we stuck together and picked up a ninth-placed position’. It wasn’t meant to be.

“We enjoyed silencing Northampton’s supporters in the first half but once the crowd got behind them we were fighting a bit of a losing battle.”