Saturday, November 22, 2003

TWELVE months ago Craig Gillies was struggling to establish himself as a first team regular at Sixways.

These days, he's the first name on the team-sheet.

The giant lock has made himself indispensable to Worcester and, under John Brain's tutelage, Gillies is now spearheading a promotion challenge with real substance.

Against Exeter he was one of the main reasons why Worcester swatted the Chiefs away like a minor irritation. Gillies caught just about everything on Worcester's throw and disrupted plenty of Exeter's. It gave the Warriors a platform from which they never looked back.

One man who must be delighted with the form of the lineout and Gillies is Gavin Pfister. The openside flanker bagged a hat-trick of tries in this National One encounter to take his personal tally for the season to 12 and the title of top scorer. Pfister would be the first to admit, however, that his success is on the back of a well-oiled machine which is now coming into its own during the winter months.

The forwards were once again dominant at Sixways as they rolled over an Exeter pack with the minimum of fuss. That statement may have been laughable a few seasons ago but the very fact that Worcester are now pushing aside the challenges of such forward-based teams illustrates the massive strides made.

That dominance was apparent after just three minutes against the Chiefs. Tony Yapp's unforced knock on led to a scrum and Pfister peeled off to touch down with ease. Tommy Hayes added the conversion from the touchline but Exeter kept in touch with Yapp's penalty soon after.

With Hayes and James Brown confident in Gillies' ability to disrupt in the lineout, it gave them so many options and they could pick and choose their moments as they played the percentages. Sure enough, on 14 minutes, Gillies stole ball and Tony Windo ran in for the second try of the day.

It just got worse for the visitors as Yapp and skipper Rob Baxter both broke down with injuries to disrupt their game plan further. Gary Kingdom took over kicking responsibilities and swapped penalties with Hayes before Neil Lyman was driven over following another Gillies assist.

The big man was at it again, seven minutes before the break, as he won ball following a penalty to touch and the tried and tested drive took Pfister over for his second and Worcester's fourth of the day. Bonus point in the bag, the Warriors were now intent on a little salt rubbing.

Exeter, despite their frailties, still have pride, however, and they kept themselves in with a shout right on half time as they won a rare lineout and Richard Baxter piled over for their only try of the day.

They would have been happier with their defensive work in the second period but were still easy prey for Gillies. On the hour he rose highest in the line and this time Richard Bates was driven over before Hayes added the extra points. All that was left was to see whether Pfister could make it a treble and, with 13 minutes remaining, he obliged courtesy of a lineout grab from you know who.

In the past at Sixways, if the backs weren't in the game it meant the forwards were having a nightmare. On Saturday, Worcester illustrated the immense progress made as they took on Exeter up front and won by a country mile.

Too good for the Chiefs and, you have to believe, too powerful for the rest of this league.

Worcester: Hinshelwood 6; O'Leary 6, Hayes 7, Trueman 6, Davies 6, Brown 7, Swanepoel 6; Windo 8, Daly 7, Lyman 8, Gabey 7, LGILLIES 9, Bates 7, Pfister 8, Hickey 7.

Replacements: Powell, Garrard, Officer, Clunis, Fortey 7 (Windo 61), Zaltzman 6 (Gabey 40), Mason (Bates 80).

Man of the match: CRAIG GILLIES - a tower of strength.