Worcester 41 Wakefield 32

WORCESTER re-emerged as title contenders following a rare treat of rugby entertainment.

Their 41-32 victory included some wonderful running and free-flowing tries from both sides and plenty of teams will have played worse than Wakefield this weekend and win -- their contribution could not be underestimated.

Yet with Worcester scoring the game's first try within three minutes of the start, only the most fervent Wakefield fan could have predicted such a thriller.

Stand-off Ben Harvey's kick-off caused mayhem in the visitors' defence and after some fine play from both forwards and backs, Andrew Higgins scored from close range.

Harvey's conversion was cancelled out by a penalty from his opposite number Tom Rhodes and, after eight minutes, Wakefield were ahead.

Jim Jenner had taken a high ball well but Wakefield stole possession before centre Neil Summers danced past Andy Currier allowing lock Richard Hughes to score in the corner.

So the see-sawing began, and Jenner was at the forefront of Worcester's response starting and ending a move from the back of the scrum which included great support and a powerful run from Chris Raymond plus a long range pass from Nathan Carter.

Five minutes later Wakefield responded in kind, stretching the Worcester defence left and then right for winger Dan Scarborough to sprint past the cover.

Rhodes was foot perfect in the first half with a penalty, two conversions and then a drop-goal before Worcester scored again.

This time Carter was the scorer and not the supplier and had more reason to celebrate than most becoming a father in the early hours of Saturday morning with the birth of a baby boy, Ryan.

But the work was far from done, especially as Wakefield took just two minutes after the break to regain the lead for the third time.

A quick line-out caught the entire Worcester team on the hop and allowed Scarborough his second try.

It was time for Worcester to turn the screw and after pinning Wakefield in their 22 took control with two tries within five minutes on the hour mark.

The introduction of Steve Lloyd and Andy Collins gave the pack fresh legs to create a push-over for Jenner and then a fine pass from prop Tony Windo sent Rob Myler in the corner to open up a nine-point cushion.

But Wakefield were having none of that and, from a scrum on Worcester's 22, full-back Ian Breheny came into the line with devastating pace to put flanker Carl Houston under the posts.

Tempers rapidly rose and both scrum-halves, Bruce Fenley and Alex Birkby, were sin-binned for fighting, the culmination of a bad-tempered afternoon between the two at the back of the scrum.

The incident gave winger Stuart Dixon the chance to put Wakefield ahead with two minutes left but he got under the ball and Worcester made the game safe when Collins marked his debut with a score from a line-out to complete a breathless afternoon.

Worcester Tuipulotu, Myler, Higgins, Currier (Woof 67), Martens (Baxter 46), Harvey (Yapp 73), Fenley, Windo, Richards, Linnett, (Collins 53), Raymond (Denhardt 53), Scriven, Carter, Jenner.

Replacements not used: Merlin, Ball.

Attendance: 2,107