Saturday, March 25, 2000

AFTER the thrills and spills of recent weeks Worcester's fans were perhaps due a more straightforward game . . . and that was exactly what they got.

Two Premiership points were duly delivered without any fuss via a comprehensive 23-10 victory over London Welsh.

Yet for 20 minutes it seemed a no score draw was possible as Worcester's dominance in terms of possession failed to create a single opening.

Just as they made strides to the line they surrendered possession through errors and their plight was not helped by the Exiles going unpunished for killing the ball.

Stand-off Ben Harvey, who again displayed a wide range of passing and attacking invention, finally employed the scoreboard operator after 22 minutes with a penalty.

Prop Andy Collins was a constant thorn for London Welsh with his running and almost went over four minutes after Harvey's penalty but was held up yards from the line and a lack of vision meant the overlap was lost.

But the pressure just had to tell and six minutes before half-time hooker Jimmy Richards scored from close range at a line-out and although Harvey added a second penalty on the stroke of half-time the 11-0 lead should have been greater.

The backlash started immediately after the break as London Welsh finally showed some attacking intent.

Andy Lee was unfortunate to see his grubber kick behind the Worcester line roll into touch before winger Vaughan Going could reach it while, on the opposite wing, Nick Drake was beaten to his own kick by Sateki Tuipulotu.

Lee chipped away at the lead with a penalty but it was his opposite number Harvey who killed the game off.

Harvey's poor kicking at the start of the second half had put his side under pressure but he made up for his waywardness to sprint 55 metres and score a superb try after London Welsh had spilt the ball.

Nine minutes later a neat move, which saw Worcester move the ball left and then right, saw Collins create space for centre Andy Higgins and he took his chance with aplomb, dashing clear of the cover to score in the corner.

With Worcester 20 points clear the game's quality dipped although the lack of continuity was not helped by frantic action on the bench which saw Worcester use seven replacements and London Welsh six.

A quick penalty two minutes from time allowed the Exiles to break down the left and create a score for full back Nick Mardon which Going converted but they were simply never in the contest.

Worcester: Tuipulotu (Yapp 78), Walker, Myler (Woof 63), Higgins, Baxter, Harvey, Fenley (Martens 59), Windo (Lyman 74), Richards (Ball 59), Collins, Denhardt, Raymond (Lloyd 59), Scriven, Daws (Carter 74), Jenner.

Attendance: 2,406.