ASHLEY Johnson admits that Saturday’s victory over Worcester Warriors has burst a balloon of pressure that had been building up at Wasps.

Much has been made of their three narrow losses this year, but that unwanted hat-trick came on the back of a losing streak at the end of last season and, all told, Wasps hadn’t actually won a competitive game of rugby since last February.

Johnson said: “There is a lot of relief. The three losses really plays on your mind and any team would start to feel the pressure. It’s just getting that confidence back and to get the win was a huge relief.

“We always knew it was going to be tough after three straight losses, but we stuck together and played well.

“The last three games we’ve lost because of our own mistakes so we knew we just needed to sharpen up in individual areas and everything would come together. That showed against Worcester.”

Johnson was instrumental in the victory, setting up Wasps’ third try with a lung-bursting 30m sprint to the corner on his way to a Man of the Match display.

However, Joe Launchbury and Nathan Hughes ran him close as the forwards again delivered a huge performances.

Johnson said: “Everyone knows we’ve got the backs to attack out wide, but only if we give them good ball up front and a good set piece.

“We’ve really worked hard in pre-season and to be fair to the tight five in the last couple of games they’ve really given the backs go forward ball.

“It helps the back row as well if the tight five really dominant line-out time and scrum time.”

It will be a bigger test this weekend though with a trip to the Allianz Park to take on Saracens.

Johnson said: “We need guys to take the ball up.

“We need guys to put their hands up and step up, but hopefully we can take that into next week and go to Saracens with some confidence and the belief that we can go and win down there.”