WORCESTER Warriors made the perfect start to their European adventure this season with victory and five tries against powerful French opponents Montpellier.

The hosts treated the Sixways faithful to some highly entertaining rugby and kept their Heineken Cup ambitions on track with a disciplined display in this opening group match.

It was not the strongest side Warriors have put out all season. They were without prop Chris Horsman, who is to appear before RFU chiefs tomorrow after being cited for his alleged stamping in last Friday's Premiership tussle with Leeds.

Rookie Richard Blaze replaced Phil Murphy in the second row, while former Montpellier player Tevita Taumoepeau came in at tight-head in place of Horsman.

Despite those changes, Worcester's pack was at its clinical best. They didn't shirk from the physical challenge presented to them by the French forwards and they were as dominant as ever at the line-out.

The half-back pairing of Shane Drahm and Andy Gomarsall looks better with every game and they took full advantage of the amount of ball won up front.

Uche Oduoza, who celebrated his 19th birthday earlier this month, gave glimpses of his huge potential on the wing.

He was put under heavy pressure by Montpellier, but on several occasions he dealt with the danger.

Oduoza may have been partially culpable for one of the three French tries but, if given time to develop his undoubted talent, he could prove a match-winner for Warriors in the future.

So there was plenty to smile about from Worcester's point of view and Jonny Hylton set the tone early on with a smash-and-grab that culminated in Drahm's one and only penalty.

Gomarsall then denied David Bortolussi with a wonderful tackle. The Montpellier full-back was proving something of a handful in the early stages and only Oduoza's speed prevented him crossing in the 11th minute.

Bortolussi did eventually get on the scoresheet with a penalty but, moments later, Drahm was celebrating his first try in a Worcester shirt.

The towering Craig Gillies won the line-out and Thomas Lombard put his countrymen on the back foot with a stunning run before laying off to Drew Hickey.

When the number eight was felled it looked like the move might peter out, but Gomarsall found Drahm and the Australian spotted the gap.

Sebastien Logerot then set up Sebastien Kuzbic, who evaded Oduoza for Montpellier's first try.

The match was proving to be something of a see-saw contest and, within three minutes, Pat Sanderson found himself at the bottom of a driving maul at the other end.

Both sides added a try in time added on for first-half injuries. Magrakv Magrakvalidze crossed for Montpellier, after a clever lay-off from Martin Durand, and then Warriors were awarded a penalty try after the visitors failed to bind in the scrum.

A raft of Montpellier changes took the rhythm out of the game in the second-half but Warriors still managed a pair of tries.

Oduoza had plenty to do when he was found by Thinus Delport close to the touchline but he was too strong for the Montpellier defence and charged over.

Then, in the dying minutes, Worcester won the five-metre line-out and the impressive Saosi Vaili looked set to score a carbon copy of his try against Leeds before he presented Gomarsall with the ball inches from the line.

Warriors: Delport; Hylton, Hinshelwood, Lombard (Tucker) Oduoza; Drahm, Gomarsall; Windo, Fortey, Taumoepeau, Gillies, Blaze, Vaili, Sanderson, Hickey

Warriors man-of-the-match: Andy Gomarsall.

Attendance: 6,078.