WORCESTER not only kept their place among the elite but also produced the kind of performance which suggests they can mix it with the very best next season.

The most extraordinary thing about this match was not the fact Warriors escaped relegation but that they ever came so close in the first place.

It was as good a display as any seen at Sixways for more than a year.

We all expected to see plenty of fight from John Brain's side but they also delivered enough quality to prove they are more than worthy of their top-flight place.

There was a sense something very special was about to unfold from the minute the players walked out onto the sun-kissed pitch to noise of a volume rarely, if ever, heard at a domestic club rugby match.

It looked like the occasion might have got to Shane Drahm when he dragged a fourth minute penalty horribly wide.

It was one of two relatively straightforward kicks the full-back missed in the first-half but he finished the match as a hero when his second-half drop-goal effectively ended Saracens' challenge.

Worcester never allowed their illustrious opponents to settle and it was the pressure put on wing Rod Penney which forced him to slice his clearance straight out of play.

From the resulting line-out, the ball went long to Kai Horstmann and the number eight set up a number of drives for the line which culminated in Aleki Lutui powering his way through.

Referee Dave Pearson needed to ask the video official whether the hooker's lunge had taken him over the line and the Worcester fans made their feelings clear when they saw replays of the incident on the big screen.

Moments later, Pearson confirmed the inevitable.

Saracens tried to claw their way back into the game but they came up against the most stubborn of defences.

Pat Sanderson embodied Worcester's brave resistance and his bone-crunching tackle on Glen Jackson typified the captain's contribution.

The visitors' cause wasn't helped by the loss of prop Kevin Yates, who was sin-binned for making no attempt to roll away.

Warriors' second try again came from a line-out, with Richard Blaze this time the recipient of the ball.

Lutui came close to scoring his second but Drew Hickey eventually crashed over.

Hickey could have had two more scores before half-time but he was denied both by forward passes in the build-up.

As it was, Worcester were just one converted try ahead going into the break after a superb score from Saracens replacement Dan Scarbrough, after he latched onto Andy Farrell's pass.

Jackson was off the field with a head wound so Farrell added the conversion himself.

As the players came out for the second-half, events at Franklin's Gardens suggested Warriors would need to win to keep their survival hopes alive.

If that was supposed to make the players more anxious, it didn't show.

And the noise was positively deafening when Dale Rasmussen capped what has been an outstanding season on a personal level by squeezing over in the corner after a wonderful pass from Drahm.

When Drahm's conversion attempt slid wide of the right-hand upright, it looked like it might prove costly but the England A' player made amends on 67 minutes as he potted a superb drop-goal to put clear blue water between the two teams.

Replacement wing Marcel Garvey almost put the finishing touches to the win but he was shoved into touch after picking the ball up from Sanderson.

But the home side had done more than enough to spark the joyous scenes which followed the final whistle and they can now look forward to a fourth straight season among the country's best.

Warriors: Drahm; Best (Garvey), Rasmussen, Tucker (Lombard), Delport; Brown, Powell; Windo (Morris), Lutui (C Fortey), Taumoepeau, Gillies, Blaze (Murphy), Hickey (Harding), Sanderson, Horstmann.

Scorers: Tries: Lutui, Hickey, Rasmussen; Conversions: Drahm (two); Drop goal: Drahm.

Referee: Dave Pearson.

Attendance: 10,197.