Geordan Murphy admitted Leicester Tigers will need to improve after being “well off standard” in defeat at Worcester Warriors on Saturday.

Tigers travelled to Sixways in the opening round of the Gallagher Premiership campaign on the back of some promising performances in the Premiership Cup programme over the previous month but emerged empty-handed after a 24-16 defeat against Warriors.

A Rob Hardwick penalty early in the second half had given Tigers a 16-15 lead after an first-half try from Tom Youngs, but they were to be the visitors’ final points of a disappointing afternoon as Duncan Weir sealed the win for Warriors with three more kicks.

“That is not the standard we are looking for,” said Tigers head coach Murphy. “It gives us plenty to work on.

“It’s incredibly disappointing to come away with nothing. We didn’t really get into gear and play our game.

“We were in the game for 60-65 minutes but I don’t think we deserved to win in the end. There were a couple of missed kicks at goal and they turned around, put us under a bit of pressure and got their points.

“We were well off where we’ve been in pre-season.

“I think both teams looked nervous, everybody looked a bit tentative. There were a lot of errors, but I think they did a bit more than us and were a bit more accurate at the right times and in the right areas.

“Now we’ve got an eight-day turnaround until our next game and we need to play the way we want to play.”

Tigers host Saracens in Round 2 on Sunday (October 27) in the opening home game of the league season. Tickets are available now.