Worcester 78 Waterloo 10

WORCESTER bulldozed their way past Waterloo in another one-sided victory which keeps them two points clear at the top.

The simple facts of the 78-10 success are that their forwards are too powerful, too fit and too streetwise for almost every other team in Premiership Two.

Only after the game was won did they feel the need to expand their game and involve their equally talented backs to the fray.

Yet the game started as though an upset was on the cards with nothing going right for stand-off Tony Yapp.

On three minutes he kicked straight into Waterloo hands allowing scrum-half Ian Worsley to place a grubber kick in behind Nick Baxter and his opposite number Jason Roach won the race to the line for a shock five point lead.

Yapp then missed a penalty from virtually in front of the posts but any thoughts that it was one of the those days were soon banished.

Lock Dave Sims equalised on 11 minutes after Jim Jenner had broken clear from the back of a scrum and Yapp's conversion edged Worcester into a lead they never surrendered.

Five tries in 17 minutes before the break put the result beyond doubt with Jenner completing his hat-trick, Neil Lyman breaking through a number of tackles for his third in as many games and Chris Raymond also going over from ten yards out.

Half-time brought welcome relief to Waterloo yet within 26 seconds of the restart replacement winger Mat Walker sprinted over in the corner for number seven.

Tony Windo jinked his way over from a line-out for the next, before Rob Myler showed pace and power to score under the posts and Mark Linnett scored the tenth following another drive by the forwards.

Only twice did Waterloo show any attacking threat, first when winger Karelle Dixon showed neat footwork on half-way to race clear, only to be denied by a superb covering tackle from Andrew Higgins.

Jonathon Brennan went one better scoring Waterloo's second just after the hour following good link work between forwards and backs.

But Worcester finished the stronger and completed the scoring through centre Duncan Hughes and full-back Sateki Tuipulotu who scored a fine individual try.

Yapp, Tuipulotu and Ben Harvey shared the nine conversions but with a try count of 12-2 they were hardly needed.

Worcester: Tuipulotu, Myler, Higgins (Hughes 52), Connolly, Baxter (Walker 40), Yapp, Fenley (Harvey 52), Windo, Caputo (Richards 73), Lyman (Linnett 40), Raymond (Denhardt 60), Sims, Cockle, Carter, Jenner (Devereux 73).

Attendance: 2,921.