OFF-COLOUR scrum-half Francois Hougaard received unwavering support from Worcester Warriors boss Alan Solomons after his poor performance in the 47-33 loss at Harlequins.

Two sloppy mistakes from the Springbok star gifted Quins’ centre Joe Marchant a try inside the opening 50 seconds of the Gallagher Premiership clash.

Hougaard’s errors also resulted in two further tries for the hosts as Warriors found themselves 21-0 down after just 19 minutes.

But Solomons leapt to the defence of the 30-year-old, insisting any sportsperson has “off days” and was not the only Warriors player to have a bad game.

The director of rugby was also confident Hougaard would bounce back for next Sunday’s home clash with Leicester Tigers (1pm).

“At the start of the game his kick was charged down. The bounce of the ball was awkward and he couldn’t get hold of it,” Solomons said.

“But Francois is a good rugby player. In the first half he was one of a team that didn’t play well.

“He had the misfortune with the opening try but that can happen to any player.

“I am not concerned about him or any other player.”

Hougaard has played an influential role in retaining Warriors’ Premiership status since his arrival in February 2016 but has struggled to hit top form this term.

Asked whether Hougaard would be able to put the sorry showing behind him, Solomons replied: “I have got absolutely no doubt about it.

“You have seen the greatest tennis players in the world, like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic have off days.

“It can happen to any sportsman.

“Francois is an experienced player. Everybody has games which run for them and games that don’t.”

He added: “You are dealing with human beings so they are going to have times where somethings go wrong. It happens.

“I think the players themselves are very aware of it and have spoken about it themselves.

“I believe that we will rectify it by next weekend.”

Hougaard provided the assist for Bryce Heem to score at the start of the season half but was replaced by Michael Heaney on 62 minutes.

Fly-half Duncan Weir also made way for centre Ollie Lawrence as Warriors changed their half-backs with Ryan Mills moving to stand-off to play alongside Heaney.

The double substitution made a difference as Worcester notched three further tries to clinch a bonus point.

But Solomons said: “(The changes were) not a reflection on anyone.

“From an attacking perspective we brought Ollie on as he is very dangerous. We had Millsy on at 10 with an emphasis on attack and Michael is a really quick server of the ball.

“The idea was that we needed tries and perhaps they could facilitate that.”

On the second-half improvement, Solomons added: “What you have got to remember is that we had fresh people coming onto the field.

“Ollie and Michael were both fresh and there was an emphasis on trying to attack which is what Millsy is all about.”