“Can you tell me a better complete fullback playing the game? There are some good ones, but for my money he’s still the best on the planet.”

Andrew revealed his policy of rationing Burke’s training which has paid dividends for the 32-year-old World Cup winner, stating: “He’s in great physical condition, and we believe we’re doing a good job in looking after his body and managing his work load day to day.

“It’s fair to say he trains less than the rest of the boys, but he doesn’t need to because he’s that good, and he’s just a class act in every aspect of his rugby life.”

Andrew’s Falcons extended their unbeaten run to six matches with a rugged display against the Warriors, saying: “It wasn’t a great spectacle, but it was a very important win.

“That’s three wins in a row now in the Premiership, and we have competed well up front in all of them, and it’s a great testament to the work Peter Walton has done with the lads in that area.

“Worcester may have had players missing, but they are still a good side and never easy to beat. They provided a huge physical challenge, and that was an excellent win for us.”

Having won at Leeds on Tuesday, Andrew said: “Today was always going to be a bit scrappy, just because of playing two games in five days.

“You could see, especially in the second half, there were a lot of tired bodies out there with guys desperately trying to hang on and get around the pitch.”

After yet another tense finish, an exhausted Andrew said: “We kept nudging ahead but never quite broke free, and in the end we were just hanging on for the final whistle desperately.

“These countdown clocks are an excellent invention, but they don’t do much for your heart when you’re constantly transfixed to them for the last six minutes, watching every second drip away. My nerves are shot from having stared at the thing for so long!”

With both tries coming from long-range counter attacks, Andrew stated of the scores: “The tries looked scrappy, but there was actually a lot of skill involved in both of them, with Burkey’s dribbling upfield for the first and Dave’s length-of-the-field run for the second.

“They weren’t maybe what you would call classics, but at this stage they’re all good ones, I can assure you.”

Walder’s try saw the fly half leave the field after a high shot from Tongan wing Aisea Havili, with Andrew joking: “I think he’s alright. The lads reckon Dave just wanted the standing ovation, but the other shoulder injury to our prop Jonny Williams will be looked at by the medics, and he is in a sling at the moment while they do that.”

With Jonny Wilkinson narrowly missing out on a place in the squad for the match, Andrew explained: “Hopefully this week we will have a proper week’s training, and we can assess him back in the team environment.

“A lot of our play has actually changed a fair bit since he last played for us, so he will have to throw his hat in the ring and earn his place in the squad ahead of Dave Walder and Toby Flood, who have both been playing well.

“Due to not training this week we weren’t able to be totally confident that he was right to come back in to the match-day 22, and I sat down with him this morning and talked it through.

“He needs to get back amongst the team in training, feel confident about what we’re doing, and then we’ll take it from there. Our game has moved on in the last six weeks, and it’s important that he gets in tune with that before we throw him back in.”