WORCESTER Warriors came agonisingly close to victory in Ireland last night before going down 16-13 to Leinster.

The Premiership new boys impressed in Clontarf but were ultimately beaten by a Conor Kilroy penalty three minutes before time.

However, there were many reasons for the Worcester management to be happy with their side as they count down to the September 5 Premiership kick-off.

New signings Clive Stuart-Smith, Thomas Lombard and Ben Gollings took the eye for the Warriors while wing Jon Hylton continued to cause problems with his lightning pace.

"We'll take many more positives out of the game than negatives," said Sixways director of rugby John Brain. "It was a good game, a close contest throughout and we certainly had chances to win it. Our defence was much improved on last week against Cardiff while we were again strong in the scrum and moved the ball around very well.

"The only disappointments were the lineouts, particularly in the second half, and the fact that we couldn't finish off a number of good chances.

"However, to come to Ireland and be so competitive was very pleasing. What's good is that we play them again next weekend so we have an immediate chance to improve on the areas where we were a little disappointing and build on the positives."

Worcester began the game with Tommy Hayes at fly half and a centre pairing of Dale Rasmussen and Lombard following the withdrawal of skipper Ben Hinshelwood because of an ankle knock. The combination worked well as Worcester held their hosts to 8-8 at the break following an early Hayes penalty and a Matt Powell try after superb work from Gollings.

The National One champions made a number of changes in the second period with Stuart-Smith, Neil Cole, Siaosi Vaili, Andre van Niekerk, Steve Sparks, James Percival and Daren O'Leary all getting valuable game time.

And it was the former Gloucester wing O'Leary who showed his appetite for tries is still strong as he sped in for a touchdown with eight minutes left to level the scores at 13-13 following a Christian Warner effort for Leinster early in the second half.

The visitors had their chances in the second period and Stuart-Smith came close to what would have been the winning try. It was not to be, however, and the penalty late on gave Leinster victory.

Worcester: Roke; Hylton, Lombard, Rasmussen, Gollings; Hayes, Powell; Windo, Daly, Horsman, Murphy, Gillies, Mason, Sanderson, Hickey.

Replacements: Higgins, O'Leary, Cole, Stuart-Smith, Vaili, Blaze, Percival, Hall, van Niekerk, Sparks.