WORCESTER Warriors fly-half Loki Crichton gained his side a guaranteed home draw in the quarter-finals of the European Challenge Cup with a confident, measured and controlled performance against one of France's top sides.

Worcester knew a victory would gain them a cup bonus and they certainly stepped up to the mark despite the horrendous conditions.

Crichton ran the show from start to finish and made Montauban look ordinary. Worcester were expecting the French side to play a typically Gallic game and dominate up front, but it did not happen as time and again the Warriors pinned the home side back.

For the Worcester fans who made the trip it was another worthwhile performance, but the question must be - why can't Warriors do this in the Guinness Premiership?

They are now just three wins away from a Heineken Cup place despite being just one place off the bottom of the Premiership.

Worcester started in ferocious form at the impressive Stade de Sapiac. They forced Montauban to give away three penalties in the opening four minutes and after repeated pressure it was home side prop Pablo Lemoine who crumbled first. His fifteenth minute sin-binning gave Wor-cester the momentum they needed and Darren Morris opened the scoring from a rolling maul.

Five minutes later Pat Sanderson made it two as he slammed down the Montauban captain Sebastien Fauque's attempted clearance, and dived on the ball.

Try number three was the best of the lot. Loki Crichton spotted a gap and launched a perfectly weighted kick into the in-goal area. Young winger Miles Benjamin outpaced the opposition to touch down.

Worcester let their defence slip slightly though, and former Warriors centre Miguel Avramovich put Sylvain Jonnet in under the posts. Sebastien Fauque converted to make it 17-7 at the interval.

Montauban secured more possession in the second-half but never looked like troubling Worcester.

Matt Mullan, a replacement for Aleki Lutui, scored Wor-cester's fourth try and secured the bonus point on 67 minutes and from then on the game descended into farce.

Warriors' flanker Tom Ward and replacement Montauban prop Patrick Blanco were both sin-binned after a mass brawl.

Warriors: Delport; Gear, Rasmussen, Tuitupou, Banjamin; Crichton, M Powell; Morris, Lutui, Taumoepeau, Bowley, Gillies, Wood, Sanderson, Horstmann. Reps: Mullan, Ruwers, Rawlinson, Hickey, R Powell, Brown, Pennell.