PERRY Humphreys hopes his try-scoring showing in the defeat to Exeter Chiefs has done enough to stay ahead of his wing rivals at Worcester Warriors.

The 25-year-old flier has been named in the starting line-up for Warriors’ opening three Gallagher Premiership games.

But with Tom Howe, Dean Hammond and summer signing Ed Fidow all breathing down his neck Humphreys admitted he “needed a big game” on Sunday.

And he rose to the challenge, scoring two first-half tries to give Warriors a 17-3 lead before Exeter came back to win 24-20.

“It’s always good to score, especially at Premiership level,” Humphreys said.

“Tries come and go with opportunities but I want to start as many Premiership games as I can.

“I think the back three and the back row is the biggest competition here.

“We have boys fighting for places so I needed a big game.

“Of course (it’s important to score).

“You have to be putting your hand up even if you are starting.”

Humphreys, who struggled with an ankle issue last season, said he had been perfecting his aerial skills in training with the help of Warriors’ chief “bomb defuser” Chris Pennell in a bid to give him an edge when it came to selection.

“I had a shortened pre-season (due to surgery) but I worked on my aerial skills,” Humphreys said.

“They are massive in the game now as you saw from the World Cup final.

“There is a lot of pressure on the back three now to not only catch the ball but also put pressure on the opposition by sending it back.

“Penns is the bomb defuser. He is awesome under the high ball so we are lucky to have him.

“We push each other in training and will take 10 to 15 minutes to practise on it after most sessions.”

Humphreys got Warriors off the mark against Exeter when he received Cornell du Preez’s pass before sprinting 40 metres to the try-line on nine minutes.

“That was straight off the training paddock,” Humphreys said.

“We have practised that and luckily (Exeter’s defence) just opened up so it was a case of pinning the ears back and going for it!”

But Humphreys’ double was not enough as tries from Jack Maunder, Matt Kvesic and Harry Williams sealed victory for Chiefs.

Humphreys said “a couple of errors let us down in the end” but he was buoyed by Warriors’ performance in the loss.

“We are disappointed but there are positives to take from that,” Humphreys added.

“As Millsy (Ryan Mills) just said, for 90 per cent of that game we were very good.

“Exeter are a great team and I thought we did ourselves proud.

“We put in a solid effort and could have won that game.

“We will look back at it and then look forward to going to Harlequins (on Saturday 3pm) to try to get some points there.”