Friday, February 24, 2006

WORCESTER'S flirtation with relegation trouble continued on a cold and miserable night in West Yorkshire.

The Warriors could have all but secured their Premiership future for another season with five points against the basement boys but they allowed themselves to be dragged towards danger with a dismal display.

They did at least salvage what could turn out to be a priceless bonus point thanks to the cool head of replacement Simon Whatling.

The 21-year-old came on in the last minute after Shane Drahm suffered a knock on the ankle and demonstrated why he is regarded as the most promising youngster at Sixways by dispatching a penalty with the last kick of the game.

If Worcester had gone home empty-handed they could have had few complaints. Leeds simply had more desire than their opponents.

Having become accustomed to fighting for their lives, Phil Davies' side have developed the stomach for it. If Worcester don't do likewise very soon, they could find themselves in big trouble.

Right from the off, Warriors looked edgy and Thinus Delport, restored to the starting line-up after six weeks out with knee trouble, flung a loose pass which Mark Tucker desperately punted out of play.

That put Warriors under heavy pressure and they then conceded a penalty a few metres from the line. Former All Blacks scrum-half Justin Marshall reacted quickest and set up Tom Palmer. While the lock was held up just short, Chris Bell was on hand to cross.

Worcester were let off the hook when Roland De Marigney missed the conversion and, shortly after, his penalty from almost exactly the same spot drifted off-course.

That meant the visitors were within five points of Tykes after almost a third of the match, which didn't reflect the dominance of the home side.

With the half-back pairing of Drahm and Matt Powell completely out of sorts, there was no chance of the Warriors strike runners seeing much of the ball. It was beginning to look like it might be a long night as well as a cold one.

De Marigney finally found his kicking boots to fire a penalty, which was cancelled out just a few moments later by Drahm.

Leeds then put together a superb move that culminated in their second try of the match. It owed much to the superb running skills of full-back Tom Biggs but it was finished off when prop Rayno Gerber found De Marigney, who crossed in the corner before adding the conversion himself.

Powell's inclusion had come at the expense of Andy Gomarsall and at half-time the England international was called for. Things improved marginally after his introduction but Warriors were unable to cause their hosts much unease, the exception being a well-worked drop-goal for Drahm.

At least they stopped the Tykes from scoring more tries, although on one occasion it needed the cynical intervention of Siaosi Vaili, who was yellow-carded for pulling down close to the line.

While the sin-bin might not have been the ideal place to finish the game, it would be wrong to be over-critical of Vaili. The replacement flanker provided Worcester's brightest moment of the match when he burst through a hole in the defence and was unlucky to be hauled down just a few metres from the line. There was little else to cheer on the night.

Champions Wasps are up next and, despite the vital contribution of Whatling, Worcester fans will be relieved to hear that Drahm's ankle is expected to be OK. He, and the rest of the team, need to be back to their best if they are to stop the rot.

Warriors: Delport; Havili, Rasmussen, Lombard; Tucker, Drahm (Whatling), Powell (Gomarsall), Windo, Fortey, Taumoepeau (L Fortey), Murphy (O'Donoghue) Gillies, Horstmann (Vaili), Harding, Hickey.

Scorers: Penalties: Drahm (three), Whatling; Drop-goal: Drahm.

Warriors man-of-the-match: Phil Murphy.

Referee: Martin Fox.

Attendance: 3,718.