Worcester 19 Rotherham 26

WORCESTER Rugby Club paid the penalty for an undisciplined performance as they were dumped out of the RFU Senior Cup by Rotherham.

The National One leaders were penalised time after time in a scrappy fifth round encounter watched by a paltry 1,610 at Sixways as they missed out on a return cup trip to Saracens in the next stage.

Rotherham's fly half Ramiro Pez kicked 11 points but could have had 27 during a fragmented match which was never given the oxygen to breathe due to whistle-happy referee Roy Maybank.

However, Michael Wood's double try burst gave the visitors a deserved victory as the mini battle between the two promotion rivals this season was levelled up at 1-1.

Worcester went into the match with September's 20-18 victory over Rotherham behind them but now face the trip to Clifton Lane in January without any psychological edge.

After both coaches had played down the significance of the match leading up to Saturday's clash, the message seemed to have well and truly hit home to the supporters who stayed away in their droves.

Worcester would have hoped to pack out Sixways for such a glamour tie but with both camps insisting the game did not matter, the supporters had inclined to agree and kept their money in their pockets.

A crowd of under 2,000 for a match which could have caught the public's imagination once again showed the link between positive publicity and financial gain for a rugby club.

In the end, the Worcester stayaways probably made the right decision. Apart from a couple of 10-minute periods, the visitors won plenty of ball and looked the likeliest throughout.

Indeed, Worcester did not win a single lineout until the 18th minute, a stunning statistic considering how much work goes into set pieces on the Sixways training fields.

Worcester, who without Ben Clarke due to illness, actually led 6-3 early on after Steven Vile's brace of penalties but were lucky on 13 minutes to still have 15 men after an attempted punch from Dan Zaltzman was punished simply by a ticking off.

Two minutes later, though, retribution came swiftly and clinically. Wood took the ball inside Worcester's 22 and just eased past Alistair Murdoch and the helpless Winston Stanley for a score which came about a little too easily.

Coach John Brain would have been concerned at the lack of defensive cover down Worcester's left-hand side as Wood cut through. Pez's conversion put the visitors 10-6 up.

Neil Lyman then made the home side's cause all the more difficult when his yellow card, four minutes later, gave Rotherham a golden opportunity. Like all good sides, they needed little invitation in taking their chance.

Penalties

Howard Parr drove over the line for a 15-6 lead but two Vile penalties closed the gap to three points and Mike Umaga's sin-binning, just before half time, for killing the ball gave hope to a comeback.

Just after the break we were given a comedy moment when the same over-zealous steward who asked Brain and Steve Townend to sit down in the stands earlier in the season struck again.

Rotherham coach Jim Kilfoyle seized the moment to inject a bit of humour, insisting "Sit down John - did you hear the man?"

The smiles, though, were quickly wiped off Worcester supporters' faces when two Pez penalties gave Rotherham a 21-12 lead with 14 minutes left. And the result was put beyond doubt when Wood capped a polished display as he chipped in with his second try on 71 minutes.

Jim Jenner's converted try, with seven minutes to go, raised hopes of another late, late show and Harry Toews' yellow card, for pulling down a powerful Worcester maul, gave the Gold'n'Blues a chance.

Chris Garrard almost went in on the right at the death for what would have been a thrilling conclusion but he was forced into touch.

And as the final whistle rang around Sixways, Worcester had to convince themselves that they could now concentrate on their league battle with their Yorkshire rivals for the rest of the season. They would argue that the victory offered no psychological advantage for the remainder of that competition. The faces on the Rotherham players after the whistle seemed to counter that assumption somewhat.

Worcester: Stanley 6, Garrard 5, Roke 6, Hinshelwood 7, Murdoch 5, Vile 6, Moncrieff 6; Windo 6, Hall 5, Lyman 5, Zaltman 5, Morgan 6, Evans 7, Jones 6, Jenner 8. Replacements: Pellow 6 (Moncrieff 63), Yapp (Vile 75), Soper (Morgan 72), Carter 6 (Jones 55), Davis (Windo 72), Ross 6 (Hall 63), Moreno (Lyman 72).

H Man of the match: Jim Jenner: Tackled well all day and rounded off a solid display with Worcester's only try.