GLOUCESTER head coach Johan Ackermann has said his side’s inability to win away from home in the Aviva Premiership is a mental attitude throughout the whole team.

The Cherry and Whites are unbeaten in the Premiership at Kingsholm but they have won just twice on the road in eight league clashes, the latest being the 25-15 beating by M5 neighbours Worcester Warriors, who are languishing in bottom but one place in the table.

Gloucester were outgunned by Worcester in the first-half on Saturday as the home side rattled up three tries and never lost their lead throughout the match.

Ackermann’s team scored two tries from centre Matt Scott and wing Henry Trinder, with fly-half Billy Burns converting one touchdown and centre Billy Twelvetrees kicking a penalty.

The unbeaten home record has kept Gloucester in the hunt for a Premiership play-off place, but they could do with a run of away victories in the fight for the fourth place with Newcastle, Bath and Leicester.

Ackermann could not put his finger on what is happening with the team’s mentality when they jump on the bus to travel from Kingsholm, but said: “We must stop talking about it and just be better from the start.

“I think it is a collective thing and not an individual thing. Look at our warm up (before the Worcester match) and you will digest everything.

“We have had good games and I think that it is about repeating that mental approach in all games.”

He said after the match: “Where we are as a group and a team, we must improve. Any side which wants to be in the top half of this competition needs to be able to back certain performances. You can’t just rely on playing well at home which is where we let ourselves down today.

“The whole game last week (victory over Leicester at home last Saturday week) was one hundred per cent line-out and today we lost line-outs and, to me, that is just accuracy again.

“At the start of the game, Worcester attacked well but it was just the soft tries we gave away and the softness in the defence. That to me is about the mental approach that you come into the game with and I don’t think we were up there today.

“We always knew they would be aggressive in defence. We knew they were going to be up there and maybe we lacked playing a bit more territory.

“If you want to keep the ball, you need to be accurate and we were not accurate.

“There were stages when we looked great and we got behind them but then again, the impatience with the ball cost us. This is sport. It brings you clearly back to earth but the reality is that there is still all to play for in the league and there are a lot of games left.

“The sun will shine tomorrow and we have to get back on track. There is no use to sulk too much about it and you have to give credit where credit is due and they (Worcester) were good today.”