Worcester 33 Coventry 15

AN EXPLOSIVE first-half performance kept Worcester flying at the top of the league as they scored a valuable 33-15 win at home to Coventry last night.

Their sixth win in as many Allied Dunbar Premiership Two games came via a Nick Baxter try double, plus one each for back row forwards Jim Jenner and James Cockle.

Worcester again showed forward supremacy and steely tackling, but missed wide options in the first-half and forced too many passes in the second.

Both sides could have contributed further but for a whistle-happy referee in David May who denied a good crowd flowing rugby.

Coventry were hit by an early injury blow when centre Nick Osman suffered a broken collar bone inside four minutes, before Yapp kick-started Worcester with a seventh minute penalty.

Jenner then scored his second push-over try in eight days before a Baxter special brought the house down. He popped up in midfield to steam under the posts after centre Jamie Connolly had made the initial break.

But Coventry showed resolve and, after Worcester failed to clear their lines from a deep kick, number eight Chris Tarbuck dived over from a line-out.

Full-back Steve Gough's conversion, following on from an earlier penalty, put Coventry just 15-10 behind but scores late in the first-half proved crucial.

Yapp slotted a simple penalty and from a scrum, captain Bruce Fenley broke quickly down the blindside and, after being held up on the line, popped the ball to Baxter to score his second.

With a 15 point lead at the break Worcester looked set for a comfortable win but scrappy play saw no further points for the next 25 minutes.

Eventually Yapp slotted a 15 metre penalty after a blatant Coventry off-side and with ten minutes left Cockle made sure of the result with his side's fourth following a drive from a line-out.

But the game had a sting in the tail with a quickly taken Coventry penalty putting centre Ricky Hislop in space down the left where he outpaced Connolly to score in the corner.

The evening's only down side for Worcester was an elbow cartilage injury to lock Richard Denhardt, but with the next two games to be played at lowly Wakefield and West Hartlepool, the fine start looks certain to continue.

Worcester: Hughes, Walker (Myler 60), Higgins, Connolly (McLaughlin 77), Baxter, Yapp, Fenley (Harvey 60), Windo (Linnett 74), Richards (Ball 70), Lyman, Denhardt (Lloyd 55), Sims, Cockle, Carter, Jenner (Merlin 64).

Attendance: 3,112.