Saturday, April 13, 2002

CHRIS Garrard signed off his Sixways season in the style it began with a flurry of tries as Worcester swept past Exeter Chiefs.

The Australian winger claimed his third hat trick of Worcester's campaign as they exacted some revenge over the Chiefs with a 41-17 victory.

The Devon side, led by their outstanding fly half Chris Malone, dented the Sixways promotion challenge back in December with a 21-10 win but there was to be no double especially with Garrard on treble form.

After his four-try burst at a sun-drenched Sixways back on the opening day of the season, Garrard made sure that possibly his final game at Worcester was not to be a disappointment with another powerful display. The three tries took his league tally to 25 to once again illustrate his worth to Worcester. His future will be decided in the next two weeks but, on this form, Sixways officials will be desperate to hang on to one of their most prized assets.

Exeter simply could not handle the pace of Garrard, Duncan Roke and Ben Hinshelwood as the three again showed their threat on hard, dry surfaces. Indeed, the County Ground side had not touched the ball until they found themselves 10-0 down after three minutes. Following a Craig Chalmers penalty, Roke's dummy fooled the Exeter defence and the former Henley man jogged in for a simple try. Chalmers - with his radar back in full working order after a dismal couple of weeks with the boot - slotted over the conversion to put Worcester firmly in the driving seat.

Malone - author of Worcester's December demise - was soon re-writing another script, however, as he shimmied his way through for a picture-book try on 12 minutes. His conversion soon after made it 10-7. Exeter then had their best spell of the match as they drove Worcester back on numerous occasions but, every time, were met with dogged defence. And their frustration began to get the better of them as skipper Robert Baxter was sin binned on 24 minutes for persistent foul play.

Like all good teams, Worcester went for the jugular with the Chiefs a man down. Hinshelwood drove over for another converted score and, three minutes later, Garrard latched on to a Richard Smith chip before out-pacing the defence to touch down. Chalmers added the extra points to put the result beyond doubt and Worcester were flying.

Their dominance was punctuated briefly by a 32nd minute Malone penalty before that man Garrard took centre stage yet again.

Chris Hall made the opening burst before a quick-tap penalty took Exeter by surprise and Garrard raced in on the corner for his second of the day. Chalmers kept his 100 per cent kicking record intact with the conversion before Garrard again made another telling contribution, just before half time, with a huge tackle on Dermot Kelly as the winger looked odds-on for the line. It summed up another all-action contribution by the former sevens star.

In truth, the second half never lived up to its billing after the frantic first. Blair Foote opened the half with a cynically high challenge which took out Chalmers. The two then both had to leave the field, Chalmers with concussion while Foote was ordered to the sin bin for the dreadful foul.

Tony Yapp came on for a cameo role which included a number of well placed kicks and a 70th minute penalty. Dave Sims appeared for what is likely to be the final time at Sixways and Richard Baxter rescued some credibility for Exeter with a well-taken, converted, try.

However, the final word came from Garrard. Out of the action for much of the second half, he was once again the beneficiary of Roke's pace as he stormed into the corner for his third. Yapp converted and Worcester could begin to plan for next season's title challenge. The burning question, though, is whether their top scorer will be at Sixways come September. The rest of National One, you sense, would be glad to see the back of him.

Worcester: Roke 7, Murdoch 6, Hinshelwood 7, Trueman 6, LGARRARD 8, Chalmers 6, Smith 7; Windo 7, Hall 5, Lyman 7, Zaltzman 6, Morgan 7, Evans 7, Nias 6, Jenner 7.

Replacements: Carter 7 (Nias 24), Yapp 6 (Chalmers 43), Pellow 6 (Smith 45), Ross 6 (Hall 55), Sims 6 (Zaltzman 62), Meredith (blood for Trueman), Moreno.

Man of the match: CHRIS GARRARD - hat-trick hero.