Worcester 21 Rotherham 10

MAKE no mistake about it, Worcester are in the box seat for the title race after surviving what looked a hazardous first month unscathed.

Saturday's 21-10 victory over Rotherham leaves Worcester as the team to beat in Premiership Two but any complacency will soon change that with games against London Welsh and Coventry looming around the corner.

The weekend was a spectacular success for the club with victory over their fiercest rivals following the morning visit of the All Blacks, many of whom returned to Sixways to watch the match.

They were rewarded with a gripping high intensity, high velocity encounter that remained in the balance until James Cockle's pushover try in injury time.

Worcester's Tony Yapp opened the scoring with a penalty but Rotherham then laid siege on Worcester's 22 for much of the first half.

Dogged defending and ferocious tackling from the home players prompted Rotherham to turn to the kicking boots of stand-off Simon Binns but he chose the wrong moment to have an off day. His place kicking would have struggled to win him the half-time kicking competition never mind decide a crucial promotion battle.

Ironically one of his failures almost led to a Rotherham try as it rebounded from a post and fell to Neil Spence who quickly passed to Carlos Hassan who spilled the ball due to a try saving tackle from Chris Raymond.

Andy Higgins, Mat Walker and Nick Baxter also provided crucial hits but after Baxter's heroics, Dean Lax went over in the corner only for the try to be disallowed for a forward pass.

And so it fell to Worcester to score the game's opening try with Yapp scoring from close range after some powerful surges by the forwards.

Yapp converted but Binns kicked his only penalty just before the break to keep Rotherham in touch.

Then came the fightback culminating with a dubious try for flanker Ben Wade who appeared to have dropped the ball as he grounded it. He also went close to another score but was denied by full-back Duncan Hughes who kicked the ball to safety from underneath the diving forward.

Binns converted to level the scores and, but for his misses, Rotherham would have been leading 22-10 with the game virtually won.

Instead, Worcester made the visitors pay with a polished display in the final quarter with Yapp and Hughes kicking cleverly into space.

The forwards did their bit, winning two penalties that Yapp converted to give Worcester a six-point lead.

Rotherham's waning resistance finally ended with Cockle's injury time try which completed a perfect Sixways September.

Worcester: Hughes, Walker, Higgins, Connolly, Baxter, Yapp, Fenley, Windo (Linnett 74), Richards, Lyman, Lloyd, Raymond, Merlin (Cockle 64), Carter, Jenner. Replacements not used: Orgee, Ball, Myler, McLaughlin, Powell.

Attendance: 4,100.