Saturday, October 19, 2002

WORCESTER'S young guns came of age as they passed their Powergen Cup test without too many hiccups.

The Sixways side drafted in Jon Higgins, Hugo Southwell, Neil and Gareth Mason into their first team and, despite a substandard second half display, eased to a 73-5 victory at Lily Hill Park.

Other academy starlets Tom Richardson and Neil Starling were on the bench to give Worcester a refreshingly youthful look in this third round affair between sides from the business ends of the top two National divisions.

In the end, the contest served to expose the chasm between the two leagues with Worcester scoring almost at will. That coaches Andy Keast and John Brain came away from Bracknell disappointed with a lacklustre second half performance, which reaped just three tries, tells its own story.

They should have put 100 points on Bracknell but lost the tempo in which they began the match. After 26 minutes, Worcester were 40-0 ahead and looked certain to hit a ton against a team gasping for air.

Tries from Craig Hudson, Dan Zaltzman, Chris Garrard, Southwell (2) and Gary Trueman showed the value of pace and slick handling as Worcester carved openings with ease. Further first half tries from Chris Pearson and Jim Jenner gave the visitors a 52-0 lead while Higgins took the eye with six conversions.

It was Southwell, though, who stood out as he linked up time and time again with play, giving the Worcester attack the type of surging runs supporters have become accustomed to with Duncan Roke.

Southwell scored two and had a hand in another couple as he showed just why Brain plucked him from Bristol's under 21s last season. On this evidence he looks an able deputy to Roke for the league campaign.

Higgins took his match tally to 18 points when he converted Hudson, Ben Hinshelwood and Gavin Pfister's second half tries and the 21-year-old certainly looked the part on his first start for the Warriors.

The fly half is likely to be given plenty of game time in the coming weeks with James Brown ruled out until January and Higgins' distribution kept a back line ticking over nicely especially in the first period. In the wake of the suspended Werner Swanepoel's absence, John O'Reilly also won his first start and did little wrong all afternoon in the number nine jersey.

It was just a pity the second half was a non-event for Worcester because although they scored another three tries, two came at the death following long spells of Bracknell pressure.

You sense, though, that whatever the level of performance in this cup tie, Higgins and Co can only benefit from the experience on what was, overall, a positive day for the club.

n Worcester will now play host to Manchester in round four on November 9.

NSOUTHWELL 8; Hudson 6, Hinshelwood 7, Trueman 7, Garrard 7; Higgins 7, O'Reilly 6; Mason 7, Pearson 6, Lyman 6, Zaltzman 6, Gillies 7, Mason 7, Pfister 6, Jenner 7. Replacements: Richardson 6 (O'Reilly 64), Chalmers, Starling, Hall, Davis 6 (Lyman 60), Morgan, Nias.

Man of the match: Hugo Southwell - great pace, excellent hands.