Friday, May 6, 2005

ANDY Keast admitted it was a "game too far" for Worcester as their Heineken Cup hopes ended last night at Vicarage Road.

The Warriors' head coach saw his side go down 28-10 at Saracens in the Zurich Premiership wild-card play-off clash but was not too surprised following last Saturday's drama at Sixways.

Worcester secured their top-flight status last weekend and the emotional strain of that day looked to have taken its toll last night as the visitors struggled against Sarries.

Added to that a mounting injury list, and Keast was hardly taken aback by defeat at Vicarage Road.

"It was one game too far for us," said the former British Lions coach.

"Against Saracens, you have to be on top of your game. You've got to be fresh and, unfortunately, our boys were never ready for this.

"They went through so much last week, building them up for the Northampton game. They had to find everything they had to make sure they won that match and I think this game was just one too many."

Tries from Kevin Sorrell, Iain Fullarton and Ben Johnston were enough to see off Worcester. Saracens will now meet either Gloucester or Newcastle at Twickenham for a place in Europe's premier cup.

The game contrasted the club's relative squad strengths with Worcester down to the bare bones because of injuries to Chris Horsman, Lee Fortey, Tim Collier and Dale Rasmussen. Saracens boasted a bench featuring Raphael Ibanez, Glen Jackson and Kyran Bracken.

Neil Lyman's early withdrawal because of his knee problems and replacement Steve Sparks' subsequent departure, after aggravating his neck injury, uncontested scrums were ordered after just half an hour.

On paper, that seemed to give Worcester an edge but, after James Brown's fumble, Moses Rauluni scooped up the loose ball before Sorrell finished off in the corner.

That, added to two Nicky Little penalties, gave the home side an 11-0 half-time lead and despite an early Tommy Hayes three-pointer in the second period, Saracens dominated the remainder of the match.

Taine Randell was halted just short of the line and Fullarton took the ball on and touched down.

As Worcester tired, space opened up and Johnston scored the third try after 74 minutes.

Hayes scored and converted a late consolation try for the Warriors .

WORCESTER Delport 8; Pieters 7 (Sampson 6, 43), Hayes 6, Lombard 6, Hinshelwood 6; Brown 6, Powell (Cole 63, 6); Windo 6, Van Niekerk 6, Lyman 6, Blaze 6, Gillies 7, Mason 6, Sanderson 7, Hickey 8. Reps: Sparks 6 (Lyman 15), Murphy, Daly 6 (Sparks 32), Vaili 6 (Van Niekerk 56), Cole 6 (Powell 63), O'Leary 6 (Brown 50), Sampson 6 (Pieters 43).