WORCESTER paved their way to the European Shield semi-finals with a comfortable 32-6 victory over Leonessa last night.

The Warriors scored four tries in the quarter-final first-leg tie at Sixways with Thinus Delport, Pat Sanderson, Ben Hinshelwood and Brad MacLeod-Henderson crossing.

And Delport, who looked Worcester's best attacking threat all evening, was pleased with the Premiership side's application against a feisty Italian outfit.

"It's always a difficult game against sides coming over from Italy," he said.

"You also have a different referee with different interpretations of the game. Coming in from the side and the tackle areas are always areas of dispute.

"Together with the wind, it made it very difficult to spray the ball around and, with them playing a few spoiling tactics, it was tough.

"However, we showed that we are capable of scoring tries and we went out there and did just that.

"We didn't know anything about Leonessa before kick-off but they've proved that they were better than Rovigo, who we had in the previous round.

"They came out steaming and the next leg in Italy will be a lot tougher. Their coach has said the tie is over now but I think they'll be fired up at home. We're expecting a big physical confrontation."

Two early penalties from James Brown gave Worcester an ideal platform, but Rima Wakarua cut that advantage on 18 minutes with his own three-pointer.

The score gave the Italians heart and they had chances to add to their score mid-way through the half.

However, with Worcester forcing Leonessa into a hatful of first-half penalties, it was only a matter of time before the home side extended the lead. And it was Delport who powered his way to the line on 28 minutes with Brown adding the conversion.

Just before half-time, centre Gary Trueman broke through and via Brown and Duncan Roke, the ball came to skipper Sanderson who strolled through for the second try which Brown improved.

Early in the second-half, Leonessa found themselves a man down after Juan Martin Soffredini's yellow card and the floodgates were nudged by Hinshelwood's 50th minute try.

The fact that they never opened, however, was down to some determined work by the Italians' street-wise pack and speedy backs. They also added to their score with another penalty from Wakarua just after the hour.

Ultimately, though, after Alfredo Kahm was sent to the sin-bin for a high tackle with two minutes remaining, MacLeod-Henderson bulldozed his way to the line and Delport's conversion gave Worcester a useful cushion going into next Friday's second leg tie.

Worcester: Roke 6; O'Leary 6, Hinshelwood 6, Trueman 6, H DELPORT 8; Brown 6, Powell 6; Sparks 6, Hall 6, Horsman 7, Gabey 6, Gillies 6, Vaili 6, Sanderson 7, MacLeod-Henderson 7. Replacements: Fortey (Horsman 72), Windo 6 (Sparks 63), Mason 7 (Vaili 52), Murphy 6 (Gabey 63), Cole 6 (O'Leary 63), Hayes (Brown 80), Stuart-Smith (Powell 71).

Attendance: 3,062

Referee: Romain Poite (France).