DIRECTOR of rugby Gary Gold wants his players to “hit the ground running” when they arrive back from their summer break.

After a gruelling Aviva Premiership campaign, Gold says he has allowed his troops “well over a month” to recover.

Warriors have spent much of the eight-month long season battling against relegation and have been hit by many injuries along the way.

Gold believes it is important they “clear their heads” and enjoy time with their family over the next few weeks.

But with ambitions to steer well clear of the drop next term, Warriors’ chief says they will need to be ready give their all in the training.

“We have got to have a break and go and spend some time with the family and then hit the ground running in June,” Gold said.

“First and foremost, I think they need to clear their heads. They are going to have well over a month off and I think that is important.

“This particular season has taken its toll and I think to try to roll guys out in two weeks’ time you are not going to do yourselves any favours.

“We want the guys to go away and have a good summer, see their families, rejuvenate themselves, but we want them hungry when they come back to Worcester because it will be eight or nine weeks of really hard work.”

The former South Africa assistant coach has helped guide the Sixways side to safety, securing 19 points from his nine games in charge, including wins over Saracens, Bristol and Bath.

Warriors finished 13 points clear of relegated Bristol, but Gold believes there is still plenty of room for improvement.

“Every now and again we have had moments in match where we go off the boil and go walkabout,” he said.

“There was 10 minutes against Exeter and 10 minutes against Northampton where we did that and you have to concentrate for 80 minutes, especially when the opposition are of that quality.

“That’s something we have got to work at and we think we know how to fix that.”

Scrum-half Francois Hougaard reckons Warriors can push for a top-six finish next term after a tough pre-season.

But Gold insists he does not want to be making any predictions at this stage.

“I think you have to be careful what you promise,” he said.

“The only thing I did want to give as some form of commitment was that the team would make me proud.

“I can’t guarantee that we will win every rugby game, but lucky I don’t think there has been a single game even when we played really poorly against Northampton it wasn’t through a lack of commitment and capitulation.

“I can’t really look at a guy and say he didn’t try his hardest.

“If you have that as a foundation then there is a lot more that we can work on.”