Saturday, January 14, 2006

WORCESTER kept on course for a European quarter-final as their Sicilian opponents failed to bridge the massive chasm in class.

Despite running in six tries -- all scored by different players -- it was a performance lacking in inspiration from the home side and they will need to move up the gears if they want to take maximum points in Montpellier on Friday.

Half of Warriors' scores came when Catania were down to 14 men and had one or two of referee Peter Allen's decisions gone the other way, it may not have been quite the catwalk it turned out to be.

Despite their lack of ingenuity, Worcester did produce a few eye-catching moments, not least from inside centre Simon Whatling, who was the catalyst for many of his team's best attacking moves.

The youngster gives the Warriors midfield a new dimension and it didn't hurt that he was playing alongside a man with the playmaking skills of Shane Drahm.

The Australian outside-half seems to become more dominant with every game and it was he who ran the show again.

In contrast to their trip to Sicily in the autumn, Worcester went into this match with their strongest available line-up.

Aside from long-term casualties, Pat Sanderson, Chris Horsman, Tim Collier, Nicolas Le Roux and Andre Van Niekerk, the only notable absentees were lock Phil Murphy and centre Thomas Lombard.

Murphy had a rib injury, while Lombard was rested after a bereavement in the week. Ed O'Donoghue and Whatling took their places.

But, before the match even started, Warriors had an injury problem when Uche Oduoza aggravated a calf strain in the warm-up. The powerful winger was replaced by Jonny Hylton.

Drahm put the first points on the board with a penalty and then set up a try on nine minutes. His kick was plucked out of the air by Mark Tucker and the ball came to Dale Rasmussen via Thinus Delport.

Tucker had shown great agility to take the ball in his stride but his pass to the South African looked suspiciously forward.

After 20 minutes, Delport was helped off the field with a knee injury and he was replaced by James Brown, who slotted in at full-back and performed admirably in an unfamiliar position.

Worcester failed to capitalise on their domination of possession until after Catania's open-side Mariano Lorenzetti was sin-binned for handling on the floor on the half-hour mark.

Five minutes later Jonny Tuamoheloa emerged with the ball following a driving maul.

Drahm then released Hickey to squeeze over in the corner -- a try which the number eight thoroughly deserved for yet another supremely athletic display at the back of the scrum.

But it wasn't all Worcester and, just before half-time, Kent-born fly-half Barry Irving sent Allesandro Pinna over for an unconverted try.

When Catania skipper Benjamin De Jager made a hash of clearing a chip by Drahm, Tucker was on hand to cash in and guarantee the bonus point.

Just short of the hour, Juan Pablo Laggariggue became the second Catania player to be yellow-carded and, moments later, Hylton crashed over in the corner, with Drahm once again the provider.

In the final moments, Andy Gomarsall waltzed through to secure a comfortable win for the hosts.

Warriors: Delport (Brown), Oduoza (Hylton); Rasmussen (Powell), Whatling; Tucker; Drahm, Gomarsall; Windo (MacDonald), C Fortey, Taumoepeau (L Fortey), O'Donoghue, Gillies (Blaze), Horstmann (Vaili), Tuamoheloa, Hickey.

Scorers: Tries: Rasmussen, Tuamoheloa, Hickey, Tucker, Hylton, Gomarsall; Conversions: Drahm (four); Penalties: Drahm (two).

Warriors man-of-the-match: Whatling.

Referee: Peter Allen.

Attendance: 5,062.