Leicester 42 Warriors 16

AN under-strength Worcester Warriors made a brave bid to keep the club's Powergen Cup hopes alive before eventually being overwhelmed by a powerful Leicester Tigers team.

Warriors didn't roll over as quickly as might have been expected and at half-time were just four points behind their illustrious hosts.

But Tigers, who fielded all their big guns like England captain Martin Corry and World Cup winner Ben Kay, eventually romped home with three second-half tries to give them a 26-point margin of victory.

While Leicester's starting line-up boasted five of this year's British Lions tourists, Worcester put together an unfamiliar side which saw first starts of the season for Chris Fortey, Ed O'Donoghue, Steve Sparks, Johnny Tuamoheloa and Uche Oduoza.

Tigers looked to assert their dominance from the off and Worcester were understandably edgy. Kai Horstmann made a hash of their first line-out and Tuamoheloa knocked on when a counter-attack was on the cards.

In fairness to the Tongan flanker, heavy rain made conditions difficult and he was not the only Warriors player guilty of a handling error in the early stages of the match.

Leicester put the first try on the board after seven minutes when Leo Cullen received a short throw at the line-out and hooker George Chuter bound on before darting round the blind side.

Shane Drahm slotted the simplest of penalties to get off the mark, but that was cancelled out by a similar effort from Tigers' debutant Ian Humphreys.

The Leicester fly-half was also instrumental in his side's second try. Jonny Hylton, playing at full-back, could not hold onto his up-and-under and Leon Lloyd was on hand to pounce.

Both sides scored another penalty but, in between, Warriors' inside centre Thomas Lombard was put in the sin bin after handling in the ruck.

Oduoza had two chances to mark his elevation to the senior side with a try. On the first occasion he was tackled short of the line and then he fumbled Hinshelwood's pass when a score looked certain.

But Hinshelwood, who was captain in the absence of Pat Sanderson, got himself on the scoresheet on the stroke of half-time. He had acres of space on the left after being spotted by Horstmann.

The number eight had recovered from his initial error and was proving to be Worcester's most effective performer.

Drahm was another having a good day and he made no mistake with a tricky conversion. Both his kicking and his reading of the game indicated the Australian is returning to his best form. But that would prove to be the last scoring contribution that Drahm, or his team-mates would make.

Just as the game was developing into an interesting contest, Leicester added a penalty and a pair of tries to stamp their authority on proceedings.

The first score came after some desperate defending on the Warriors goal-line. Austin Healy eventually made the decisive breakthrough to audible relief from the Welford Road crowd.

Moments later Lloyd laid the ball off to Harry Ellis to score in the corner.

With the impressive Jamie Lennard brought on by Worcester, Hylton was moved to his more familiar role on the wing and, but for a brilliant tackle by Lloyd, would have made the line.

When Geordan Murphy fed Tom Varndell with eight minutes to go, the last rites had already been administered to Worcester's Powergen Cup aspirations. But the margin of defeat did not reflect the effort the Warriors players put in.

They can now turn their attention to the weightier matter of the Premiership.

Warriors: Hylton, Tucker (Lennard), Hinshelwood, Lombard, Oduoza, Drahm, Gomarsall (Powell), Sparks, Fortey, Taumoepeau, Collier, O'Donoghue (Blaze), Vaili (Hickey), Tuamoheloa, Horstmann.

Man-of-the-match: Kai Horstmann.

Attendence: 8,642.