Friday, February 4, 2004

JAMES Brown kept the Sixways feel-good factor alive with a 17-point haul as Worcester gunned down Leeds Tykes 22-15 last night.

The Warriors fly-half was in outstanding form with two drop goals, three penalties and a conversion as Worcester moved up to 10th in the Zurich Premiership, five points clear of bottom side Harlequins.

Brown looked assured thr-oughout the game, while Worcester's pack were simply too much for Leeds in front of an electric Sixways sell-out 8,421 crowd.

Once veteran prop Tony Windo was driven over the line, after just five minutes, the writing was on the wall for the Tykes who couldn't match Worcester's physicality all evening. The Warriors' line-out platform, boosted by former Leeds player Phil Murphy, was outstanding, while prop Chris Horsman enjoyed yet another impressive outing.

It was Brown, however, who ran the show and, once he'd converted Windo's opening try, he lofted over two delicious drop goals to extend Worcester's lead mid-way through the half.

Tim Stimpson gave the visitors some hope with a penalty but, with six minutes left of the first-half, Tykes' Richard Parks was sin-binned for punching and, following Brown's penalty, Worcester led 16-3 at half-time.

Leeds stunned the crowd within seconds of the restart as scrum-half Matt Powell's clearance was charged down and wing Andre Snyman ran in for an easy try. Worcester followed that up with 10 minutes of pressure on the Leeds line but ultimately, despite numerous penalties, they came away empty handed.

That looked ominous when, on 58 minutes, full-back Thinus Delport dallied following a dreadful Stimpson kick and the former Springbok's clearance was charged down by the wing who ran in to score.

His subsequent conversion, amazingly, brought ragged Leeds to within one point but Worcester were not to be denied.

Brown once again came up with the goods on 68 and 75 minutes to put the game out of the Tykes' reach and their night was made worse when hooker Mark Regan was also shown yellow late on.

"That was about total forward power up front, followed by 15-man rugby," said a delighted Andy Keast afterwards.

Worcester's head coach added: "When we came back, following their second try, it showed once again our never-say-die attitude. We had the game constantly in our pocket. We tried to throw it away and then came back again.

"I'm delighted for the players. They played exceptionally well."

Worcester: Delport 6; O'Leary 6, Rasmussen 7, Lombard 7, Pieters 6; Brown 8, Powell 7; Windo 7, Van Niekerk 8, * Horsman 9, Murphy 7, Gillies 7, Hickey 8, Sanderson 7, MacLeod-Henderson 7. Reps: Fortey, Hall (Van Niekerk 70), Collier (Murphy 70), Mason, Stuart-Smith, Hayes, Trueman 6 (Pieters 63).