Saturday, February 24, 2003

PERFORMANCE has always been the key word at Sixways this season. You suspect, though, that the result was the all-important factor on Saturday.

It was hardly convincing stuff against London Welsh but, post Orrell, the bonus-point victory was the top and bottom of it.

The win not only ensured that the pressure was placed back on Rotherham's shoulders, it gave Worcester an opportunity to nurse their walking wounded back to heath with a forthcoming three-week break from National One duty.

With Tim Walsh, Gary Trueman, Craig Chalmers, Christian Evans, Mark Gabey and Chris Pearson all ready to return to the fray for Worcester's next league clash on March 15 with Plymouth, this match was one to get out of the way and start looking ahead.

True, it was a frustrating afternoon for many supporters who have been spoilt this season with some top-class entertainment at Sixways. The performance was somewhat disjointed but, against a resolute London Welsh side, ultimately enough on the day. And after so much bad news on the injury front this season, there was the welcome return of David Officer to outside centre after a three-month absence.

With Ben Hinshelwood already ruled out for most of the season, it was a key comeback at just the right time.

"I've always said that it's a specialist position," said coach Andy Keast afterwards.

"The lines that David ran just gave us a totally different dimension in that channel. It's fantastic to have him back and he can only get better from today's performance. To come back after three months out and put in a display like that was great for the club. That's the big plus from the match."

Officer's influence could be seen from the second minute when he linked well with full back Chris Catling only for the Gloucester man to be forced into touch. Catling was involved again, three minutes later, when his misplaced pass was picked up by Nnamdi Ezulike and the winger glided in, a little too easily for the visitors' liking, for Worcester's opening try. James Brown converted and the scene looked set for another Sixways try-fest.

The momentum built up by the first try was lost immediately, though, when Welsh took advantage of a couple of turnovers to strike back through Lee Starling. Dafydd Lewis added the extra points and so began a period of play punctuated with over fussy refereeing and handling errors.

With that in mind, Worcester went back to basics. Penalty to touch, lineout won by the increasingly dominant Craig Gillies and Richard Nias was driven over. Brown again hit the conversion but, despite chances for Officer and Ezulike, Worcester had to be content with a 14-7 half time lead.

Officer finally made his presence felt on 43 minutes when, after taking a heavy knock, he supported Ezulike well to touch down. Brown was again on target but the Old Deer Park side hit back soon after with a Richard Griffith try.

Tension was beginning to build around Sixways with only three tries on the board. However, with Ezulike in the side there is always a threat and, after a Chris Garrard burst on the left, Brown switched play beautifully to create the gap for the winger. Brown then kept his 100 per cent record intact with a superb conversion and that was that.

There was still time for pantomime villain Florent Rossigneux to receive a yellow card despite only being on the field for two minutes - much to the delight of the Sixways faithful. The final word came from another substitute, Gavin Pfister, who dived over for the fifth of the day at the end. Brown, whose radar never wavered all day, added the points.

Flamboyant? Hardly. But if Worcester are to finally seal their place in the promised land this season, this victory was one of the most important yet.

Worcester: Catling 5; Ezulike 6, Officer 6, Wigram 7, Garrard 6, Brown 7, Swanepoel 7; NWINDO 8, Hall 7, Lyman 7, Zaltzman 7, Gillies 7, N Mason 7, Nias 7, Jenner 5.

Replacements: O'Reilly 6 (Swanepoel 68), Higgins (Officer), Roke 5 (Catling 54), Parkes, Olver, Morgan 6 (Zaltzman 64), Pfister 6 (Nias 60).

Man of the match: Tony Windo - solid as a rock.