Orrell 8 Worcester 47

WORCESTER Rugby Club threw the gauntlet down to Leeds Tykes with a powerful 47-8 demolition of Orrell at Edge Hall Road on Saturday.

The Sixways side ran in eight tries in the one-sided affair as Worcester showed just why they are favourites for the National League Division One title this season.

New skipper Alistair Murdoch and full-back Mathew Back weighed in with two tries apiece with Laulala Langkilde, Neil Lyman, Andrea Moretti and man-of-the-match Earl Va'a the other scorers. Sateki Tuipulotu kicked two conversions and a penalty but missed some sitters among the six conversions which went astray.

Director of coaching Adrian Skeggs was pleased with the victory but was far from happy with the performance, especially as the Leeds juggernaut rolls into town on Saturday for an early title showdown.

He said: "We let our standards drop with our discipline. If we play like that against Leeds then we will get our backsides kicked.

"We could have put 80 points on the scoreboard today -- Leeds would have. The other side of the coin is though we did score eight tries and 47 points, a good total, we had a try scored against us, which I'm not happy about."

Orrell were on the scoresheet in the first half with a Simon Verbickas penalty and then added to their total in the second period with a well-worked Rob Hitchmough try.

However, they were never in the game and the sheer power of Worcester overwhelmed Orrell.

Skeggs did pull some some positives out of the game especially after the bonus point was added after four tries were run in.

He said: "The team is just starting to come together. If we can play like that and win by such a margin then we will knock teams for six when we really get it together."

The former Bedford man also had one eye on Worcester's mouth-watering home clash with the Headingley side at the weekend.

"We have a Test Match on Saturday and this week it will be a bit of a think tank for the guys in regards to making sure we deal with them in the right way," Skeggs added.