WORCESTER Rugby Club's ladies reached the last 16 of the RFUW National Cup with a 15-0 victory over Nottingham Casuals.

Worcester were expecting a hard game against the Second Division leaders and they found themselves unable to get out of their own 22 in the first 15 minutes.

Controlled play paid off however, and the visitors went ahead with a try from lock Amanda Fox on 25 minutes.

A penalty was kicked into the corner by Karen Andrew and the resulting line-out saw Worcester gain ground. A five-yard ruck tied in the home defence and Fox crossed just wide of the posts.

Despite pressure on the Nottingham line for the remainder of the half and a disallowed try, Worcester had to be content with turning around at half time just five points ahead, but they never allowed their control on the game to slip.

Good forward pressure took Worcester towards the Nottingham line once more and a quick succession of recycled ball gave flanker Alex Pilkington try number two and a 10-0 lead.

Two further disallowed tries followed before full-back Nicky Milne ran in try number three to secure the win after 70 minutes.

Worcester now wait to see who they face in the third round of the cup on February 25.

n Worcester Colts cruised through their National Cup clash against Luctonians with a 32-5 victory.

Worcester ran in six tries, including two from debutant full-back Peter Bucknall.

The visitors were 10-0 up at half time thanks to tries from Jimmy Price and John Higgins and upped the pressure to run in four further scores in the second period of play.

Second half tries came from Bucknall (two), Ben Hughes and Alex Pimlow. Higgins added a conversion for the final score while Luctonians bagged a consolation try.

"This was an excellent all-round performance from a team containing several changes," said coach Tim Smith.