Saturday, March 26, 2005

CLOSE, but no cigar.

Victory here would have seen Worcester almost out of sight in the relegation battle.

Defeat, albeit an undeserved one, leaves a return to National One still a nagging possibility for the Warriors.

That threat will be all the more frustrating for the Sixways club considering they threw away a 12-0 advantage following a thrilling 20-minute opening burst.

Worcester blew their lofty rivals away with some special rugby before sloppy errors let Saracens creep back into the game.

And once the visitors were allowed to get their noses in front, they never looked back, starving Worcester of possession and running down the clock.

In truth, the Warriors should have put the game to bed by half-time. Ben Hinshelwood's double try burst -- his second a sumptuous chip and chase -- in the opening 16 minutes gave Worcester the foundations to build a bonus point victory.

Decisions

That it never arrived was down to some questionable refereeing decisions by RFU high-flyer Wayne Barnes plus mistakes which gifted Saracens field position.

James Brown's touch clearance did just that mid-way through the half as it sailed out on the full and Thomas Castaignde's moment of magic, as he shimmied through a couple of tackles, gave the Watford side a route back into the game.

When Iain Fullarton was sent to the sin bin, with six minutes of the half remaining, it seemed to put an end to that mini-revival.

However, despite Brown's penalty, which extended the advantage to eight points, Worcester looked the team most anxious to get to the break intact.

Saracens upped the pressure and once Thinus Delport's inviting clearance had given them chance to attack, Castaignde's lofted pass defeated Dale Rasmussen and, after Tevita Vaikona's assist, Ben Russell dived in on the right.

Nicky Little's conversion cut the gap to just one point before the break and the momentum seemed to have swung conclusively.

Indeed, that try punctured the thunderous Sixways atmosphere which had driven its Warriors on during that first period and it never quite recovered.

Saracens simply drove on in the second-half, picking up the penalties and playing where they wanted.

Ben Johnston's try, eight minutes into the half, gave them the chance to suck the pace out of the game and Barnes' acceptance of Saracens' loosehead Kevin Yates' contribution in the scrum simply helped them achieve that goal.

Brown's late, late penalty brought hopes of completing a comeback but, ultimately, they just ran out of time to get those extra points.

With forthcoming trips to Newcastle and Wasps, Worcester will be praying that doesn't become their Premiership epitaph.

Worcester: Delport 6; Pieters 7; Rasmussen 7, Lombard 7, *Hinshelwood 9, Brown 6; Powell 6; Windo 7, Van Niekerk 7, Fortey 8, Collier 6, Gillies 6, Vaili 6, Sanderson 7, MacLeod-Henderson 6.

Replacements: Lyman, Murphy 6 (Collier 50), Daly 6 (Van Niekerk 32, swapped back on 76 minutes), Hickey 6 (Vaili 49), Cole, Hayes (Delport 80), O'Leary.

Man of the match: Ben Hinshelwood -- two tries and a display which hinted at his best form.

Attendance: 8,498.