CAPTAIN Gerrit-Jan van Velze says he has been using his water boy role to keep his team-mates cool in the heat of the relegation battle.

The influential number eight has been sidelined since Worcester Warriors’ defeat at Harlequins two months ago when he fractured his arm.

But van Velze has still been able to pass on words of encouragement to Worcester’s players when bringing water onto the pitch during “extremely high-pressured games”.

“If you are brutally honest with yourself a water boy does not have a big effect,” said the 31-year-old.

“I am just trying to keep people calm, on track and sticking to the plan.

“There is a reason we prepare a week in advance so we have identified certain things and as long as we stick to it and it works whenever we have got to tweak something it is extremely small.”

Second-from-bottom Warriors are seven points clear of the drop zone with three Gallagher Premiership fixtures left.

“It’s up to the players,” van Velze continued.

“They make the decisions under pressure and that’s why it is such a tricky game to play.

“When you are young a coach can influence stuff way more than now.

“There is always a handover period and from Thursday onwards it is up to those 23 players, especially those 15 that are starting, to take control of their emotion and know what they have got to do during that 80 minutes.”

Van Velze said his injury was “coming along ahead of schedule” and he hoped to be back in action when Warriors tackle Gloucester at Sixways on Sunday (3pm).

“I had a fracture before and the previous screws just went into the joints which made it quite painful,” van Velze said.

“But we are on the mend now and it’s going really well.

“It’s coming along ahead of schedule which is good. It was really frustrating when it happened but that’s sport.

“The previous time I was injured I was out for 12 months so I can’t get too down about it.”

On the prospect of being back to face Gloucester, van Velze said: “If I can hit that target I would be really happy.

“It’s never nice to be injured especially during these extremely high-pressured games.

“You want to be involved in them.”

Van Velze, who played a key role in helping Warriors avoid the drop last season, is confident his side can retain their top-flight status again.

“If you are not used to this pressure it’s very easy to do things out of character,” said the South African.

“We are not proud of it but we have been in this position before so we have got to take advantage of that.

“It is really important to keep things simple and know that we can execute under pressure.

“I am a firm believer that if you do everything within your control to the best of your ability you can live with the result whether that’s winning or losing.

“It’s an interesting time but it’s not something this Worcester squad will hide away from.

“We are ready to take it front on and live with the consequences.

“As long as we give a true representation of what we are made of and the way we want to play the game I am sure everything will be fine.”