Sunday, September 4, 2005

WORCESTER Warriors opened their Guinness Premiership campaign with a nerve-jangling 15-15 draw against local rivals Gloucester after their long-awaited showdown deteriorated into stalemate.

Both sides showed why their forwards are among the most feared in the land but neither team was able to capitalise and the contest turned into a battle of the kickers.

Gloucester might have expected to have the advantage in that department with the prolific Ludovic Mercier back at Kingsholm and in the fly-half's jersey.

But his Worcester counterpart James Brown matched him for nerve as he kicked five out of six penalties in 67 minutes on the field.

Brown forged a familiar half-back pairing with number nine Matt Powell after Andy Gomarsall was unable to take the field against his former club because of a knee injury.

In fact, Worcester's 15 was made up entirely of players already at the club last year with Jonny Hylton returning on the wing after missing most of the previous season through injury.

But it was Gomarsall's replacement at Gloucester, Peter Richards, who looked the sharpest player early on and he almost scored from a quick tap-penalty before playing a loose pass.

The England Sevens man was clearly fired up and became involved in a couple of skirmishes with Powell that could have resulted in cards had referee Ashley Rowden taken a firmer grip on the game.

Playing in front of a record Sixways crowd of 9,726, Worcester were edgy from the start and found themselves 6-0 down after just 11 minutes as Mercier slotted a drop goal and a penalty.

Gloucester seemed unperturbed by the loss of their captain Adam Balding as early as the seventh minute after the number eight injured his cheekbone.

But as the half progressed, Worcester started to see more of the ball and their pack were able to impose themselves at the scrum.

Three penalties in quick succession saw them re-gain the initiative with England centre Mike Tindall guilty of killing the ball at the ruck on two of those occasions.

The last of those kicks saw Worcester ahead going into first-half stoppage time but they were pegged back by an extraordinary penalty from Mercier from the thick end of 60 metres. If the first-half lacked fluidity, things did not get much better after the break.

A penalty apiece left the scores tied on the hour mark and Tim Collier was forced to leave the field after taking a knock to the ribs.

Brown was replaced by Shane Drahm shortly after firing Worcester into a 15-12 lead.

Moments later, Gloucester had their best chance of a try but Rob Thirlby knocked on under pressure from Hylton.

Mercier then levelled the scores after Dale Rasmussen was penalised for offside with eight minutes remaining.

Drahm, making his competitive Worcester debut, almost snatched the glory with a penalty attempt from inside his own half.

He put plenty of height on the ball but, despite the desperate urges of the Sixways faithful, it fell just short.

Mercier missed a late drop goal himself and Hylton's last-minute chip-and-chase was collected by Jon Goodridge, leaving both teams to reflect on an uninspiring draw.

In truth, neither side deserved to claim the victory and the Warriors can now concentrate on their date at London Irish on Sunday.

WORCESTER: Delport, Hylton, Rasmussen (Le Roux), Lombard, Hinshelwood, Brown (Drahm), Powell, Windo, Van Niekerk (C Fortey), Horsman (Tuamoepeau), Collier (Murphy), Gillies, Vaili, Sanderson, Hickey. SCORERS: Brown (five pens).

GLOUCESTER: Goodridge, Foster, Tindall, Paulm, Thirlby, Mercier, Richards, Collazo (Powell), Azam, Vickery, Eustace, Brown, Boer (Buxton), Hazell, Balding (Cornwell). SCORERS: Mercier (four pens, one drop goal)

WARRIORS' MAN OF THE MATCH: James Brown.