AFTER five successive de-feats Worcestershire Saints made it sixth time lucky in the totalrl.com rugby league south-west division when they beat Oxford Cavaliers 13-6 at University College Worcester.

One of the main talking points of a low scoring game was an injury to Cavaliers' captain Adrian Clark after just two minutes which led to a 30-minute delay in proceedings.

He hit his head on the ground, which led to an overnight spell in hospital for concussion and a rudderless remaining 78 minutes for the visitors.

Buoyed on by this early advantage, Saints took the lead almost immediately with Marcus Whyte going over for a try converted by Richard Whitehouse.

The rest of the half was dominated by Oxford but for once Saints defence held firm and they held their six-point lead at the break.

The second period did not start well for Saints. Straight from the re-start Mark Kember was sin-binned, but determined defending from the home team prevented the Cavaliers from scoring.

With Kember back on the field Worcester looked the better team with both Jenkinson and Whitehouse coming close to scoring tries, before a Whitehouse drop-goal increased their lead.

Oxford hit back mid-way through the half with a converted try from Olly Derbyshire and it was a nervous last 20 minutes for the Saints as the visitors pressed for the score that would give them the points.

But a loose pass from Oxford was intercepted by Paul Barnett who ran the length of the pitch to score the decisive try under the posts. The try was converted by Whitehouse just on full time.

Worcestershire Saints have another home match this Saturday when they entertain Bristol Sonics at UCW, kick-off 2.30pm.