Sunday, March 23, 2003

THE remorseful day at Orrell will still have seemed like a bad dream when Worcester took to the field at Bournbrook.

Yesterday, the Sixways side awoke from that nightmare to find reality a much more comfortable place.

Back on top of National One, in control of their own destiny and a few dents in the Rotherham psyche to boot.

Exeter's 30-19 win over Worcester's title rivals had pushed the promotion pendulum back towards Sixways on Saturday. Twenty four hours later, Worcester made sure it stayed there with a clinical counter-attacking display at Moseley.

David Officer made his presence felt with a hat-trick of tries while Tony Windo, Chris Garrard, Werner Swanepoel, James Ogilvie-Bull, Adrian Olver, Duncan Roke and Jim Jenner weighed in with touchdowns. James Brown added eight conversions after Tim Walsh had put over the first two.

"I think what happened on Saturday was a very good 50 per cent of the weekend," said director of rugby John Brain. "We've completed the job on Sunday with a good win so we're very happy.

"The Exeter result lifted the mood of everyone at Worcester. I'm glad to say that we carried on that lift on to the pitch. It was important we did that and to come to Moseley and score 10 tries shows that the confidence is back and the momentum is there."

Momentum can, of course, be a fickle thing. But, you have to suspect, after fighting through an injury list that would have tested Florence Nightingale, the confidence will once again be flooding through the Worcester camp after a hugely positive weekend.

Windo began the onslaught on two minutes as, after a penalty to touch and lineout win, he was driven over by a dominant pack. Officer then increased the lead 10 minutes later when Tim Walsh took advantage of a dreadful Andy Gray pass to speed away before putting in the centre.

The game, though, was back in the balance soon after as Stephen Nutt ran in unchallenged to pull back five points before stepping up to add the conversion for the home side. After that Moseley enjoyed a five-minute spell which should have yielded more. James Hinkins sliced through the Worcester midfield with surprising ease and was only prevented from scoring by a scrambling Roke. But any thoughts Moseley had of keeping hold of this momentum were whipped from under them five minutes before the break when referee Wayne Barnes sent off Richard Protherough for punching in the maul. It was a blatant offence and Worcester were not shy in taking full advantage.

Swanepoel took the ball from the scrum and raced in two minutes later and that was the five points in the bag for the 20th time this season. A sharp contrast to last season and clear evidence to the progress made under Brain and Andy Keast in this campaign.

The second half was all about taking the chances that presented themselves. Swanepoel began the try spree five minutes into the period when he broke up a Moseley attack and sped away. The ball eventually found its way to Officer who doubled his tally for the day. Super subs Ogilvie-Bull and Olver were next in while Brown's conversion for the centre's try marked 1,000 points for the season so far. Quite an achievement considering the devastation injuries have wreaked throughout the backs this year.

Roke added to the try tally on 64 minutes after an impressive burst from Ogilvie-Bull, filling in on the left wing. And after Officer had sealed his treble following an initial Nnamdi Ezulike break, there was still time for Jenner to pile over to make it a perfect 10 on a perfect weekend for the Warriors.

Worcester: Roke 7, Ezulike 6, NOFFICER 9, Trueman 6, Garrard 7, Walsh 7, Swanepoel 8; Windo 8, Hall 6, Lyman 7, Zaltzman 6, Gillies 6, Evans 7, Pfister 7, Jenner 7.

Replacements: O'Reilly 6 (Swanepoel 63), Brown 7 (Trueman 25) , Ogilvie-Bull 7 (Garrard 46), Pearl 6 (Hall 69), Olver 7 (Windo 54), N Mason 7 (Pfister 40), Quinnell 6 (Zaltzman 54).

Man of the match: David Officer - great finisher but also phenomenal work ethic.