Lydney 0 Worcester 45

IF the very definition of character is how you react to adversity then Worcester sent out an important message on Saturday with a 45-0 dismissal of Lydney.

The memories of last weekend's traumatic league defeat by Coventry would have still been fresh in the minds of most players as they took to the field at Regentsholme but, to their credit, they exorcised any ghosts with a professional display.

There was nothing particularly outrageous within the performance but it was, perhaps, the therapy they needed on the back of the Coventry experience, especially with two tricky league trips coming up.

Worcester visit Wakefield and Otley in their next games and Yorkshire would not have been the place to find form.

Lydney would also not have been top of coach John Brain's list of venues to mount a renaissance but having survived, to book a fourth round National Cup tie at Moseley, he will now feel there are reasons for optimism again.

Tony Yapp, for one, showed signs of increasing confidence at fly half and it was his hat trick of tries which stole the show in an overwhelmingly one-sided affair.

Sateki Tuipulotu, who was moved to the wing with Winston Stanley taking over at full-back, put the visitors in front with a seventh minute penalty and after that, it was a matter of when not if they would add to the score. Three minutes later, Stanley took advantage of fine work from Ben Hinshelwood to score and the conversion made it 10-0. Lydney then had the chance to get back into the game but a desperate penalty miss from Neil Merrett let Worcester off the hook.

Straight from the drop out and a 50-metre surge from Duncan Roke set up scrum half Richard Smith in the corner to increase the lead. Yapp then bagged his first try of the game when he latched on to a Ben Clarke pass before touching down to make it 20-0 but Worcester ended the half a man down after Joe Ross got involved in a skirmish which saw him and Paul Kiely sin-binned.

Tuipulotu slotted over another penalty soon after the re-start as Worcester began to turn the screw. Paul Price was then the next player to be shown a yellow card for Lydney as they struggled to cope with the pace and power of the Worcester backs.

The impressive Roke then pressed his claims for a first-team league start further with a brace of tries following good interplay with Stanley and replacement Chris Garrard but Tuipulotu failed with both conversion attempts. Yapp's second converted touchdown, with five minutes left, was a real beauty after dummying his way to the line and his third, right on the final whistle, was the product of Roke's sheer tenacity after chasing a long kick upfield.

One Lydney supporter, on the club's website prior to the match, aimed to illustrate the club spirit by referring to Mark Twain's famous quote: 'It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.'

As his squad prepare to reacquaint themselves with league duty this week, Brain may well reflect that, after a week in the dog house, it is indeed time to come out fighting.

Worcester: Stanley 8, Tuipulotu 6, Roke 8, Hinshelwood 8, Murdoch 6, NYAPP 9, Smith 7, Clarke 7, Jones 7, Evans 8, Morgan 7, Sims 7, Moreno 7, Ross 5, Windo 7.

Replacements: Collins 7 (Moreno 55), Hall 7 (Ross 62), Carter 7 (Jones 70), Soper 7 (Morgan 70), Jenner 7 (Clarke 62), Pellow 7 (Smith 55), Garrard 7 (Murdoch 50).

Man of the match: TONY YAPP - solid display and three fine tries.