Friday, October 14, 2005

WARRIORS' surge into the upper reaches of the Guinness Premiership continued despite a mediocre performance against bottom club Leeds Tykes.

Worcester showed plenty of promise, but handling errors and penalties kept Leeds within striking distance right up until the final kick of the game when Shane Drahm put a tricky penalty over.

It was no more than the hosts deserved for some fluid play in the backs early on and they also exerted their usual dominance at the line-out.

Thinus Delport marked his return to the team with a fine try and a decent performance that was only marred with a loose pass in the second-half, which cost his side another score.

Delport has been missing from the Warriors line-up in recent weeks following a quad strain but was named in a new-look back-line that also included new boy Aisea Havili.

The Tongan wing showed plenty of verve just three days after arriving from Llanelli Scarlets.

After two Powergen Cup defeats, Warriors started the game at somewhere approaching full-strength.

Stalwarts Chris Horsman and Tony Windo returned to the front row, while Pat Sanderson and Drew Hickey came in to the back row alongside Kai Horstmann.

And they started strongly. Havili showed an early glimpse of the pace that brought him to the attention of the Sixways mangement and Craig Gillies set the tone at the line-out when he stole possession in the first 10 minutes.

Roland De Marigny fired his first penalty over for the visitors after 12 minutes, but Warriors responded with some heavy pressure.

Tykes full-back Tim Stimpson put in a great tackle as Nicolas Le Roux looked to offload to Havili close to the Leeds line, but in the 20th minute the Warriors made their breakthrough.

Havili might have made the line himself but he chose to bring the ball back inside to Ben Hinshelwood, who was held up just short. Drahm moved the ball wide with an excellent piece of vision and Le Roux released Delport to make the line.

Drahm missed the conversion but made up for it shortly after with a penalty to give Warriors an 8-3 lead going into half-time.

The second-half was less of a spectacle, although there was no shortage of action for a crowd that was just 100 short of capacity.

Sanderson was beginning to make an impact in the loose and his superbly-flighted pass to Delport set up a try-scoring opportunity but the reverse pass to Le Roux caught the Frenchman by surprise.

Delport and Le Roux have played very little rugby together this season and their lack of understanding was exposed moments later when the South African's pass went astray as Le Roux was making a run for the corner.

But as often happens, it was the forwards who finished the job off for Warriors. After winning a line-out deep in Leeds territory, Worcester piled bodies into the maul and replacement Saosi Vaili was driven over.

For the second time that night, Drahm's conversion was missed and De Marigney continued to kick penalties to keep the Yorkshire side within reach.

Chris Fortey was sin-binned for an obstruction and De Marigney's fourth kick of the night, which needed the help of the upright, took the scores to 16-12.

There was one more penalty apiece and then, in the dying seconds, Leeds brought down the maul and Drahm made the game safe with an excellent kick.

WARRIORS: Le Roux, Havili, Hinshelwood, Lombard, Delport, Drahm, Gomarsall (Powell), Windo, Fortey, Horsman (Taumoepeau), Murphy (Collier), Gillies, Horstmann (Vaili) (Keylock), Sanderson, Hickey.

ATTENDANCE: 9,626.