WORCESTER Warriors admitted last week that they were still smarting after losing last season’s European Challenge Cup final against Bath and it showed in Padova as they ran in nine tries to open their group games with a convincing win over Petrarca.

Although Mike Ruddock and the Warriors team said they weren’t underestimating their Italian opposition, until the last 20 minutes of this match they looked a class above the home side.

Warriors started superbly as Alex Grove took kick-off and powered up the field. The ball was recycled quickly, went up and down the line before Grove himself dived over in the top left-hand corner to start the scoring on three minutes.

Such was the speed of the Worcester attack that many of the crowd were still taking their seats when Matthew Jones struck through the first conversion of the game.

Just two minutes later, Petrarca had a chance to fight back with a penalty within the 22 but Ludovic Mercier, a famous name in rugby, kicked it wide.

He made no mistake seven minutes later, though, as he brought the scoreline to a respectable 7-3, but that was to be the first and last time in the game that the home side got within sight of Worcester.

Perhaps it was depression, perhaps they were caught napping, but the scoreboard still wasn’t working by the time Worcester added their second try on 17 minutes.

Jones and the centre partnership of Grove and Sam Tuitupou stretched the Padova defence across the field and it was Chris Latham who touched down.

Jones missed the conversion from out wide, but that was to be the least of his worries as six minutes later he found himself spending 10 minutes in the sin-bin after the French referee had reached for a yellow card.

From the sidelines he only appeared to have asked what Worcester had done to have conceded a penalty, but perhaps the language barrier left the official feeling he had been insulted.

Despite being down to 14 men, his absence didn’t appear to affect the Warriors as they added a further 12 points while he was on the sidelines.

Grove grabbed his second score on 27 minutes, which Latham converted, and then the Australian full-back proved he wasn’t going to be outdone by the youngsters as he crossed for his second try five minutes later.

Petrarca were leaving enormous holes in their defence on the edge of their set-pieces, despite having a man advantage, and the barging runs of Netani Talei and Tuitupou were just too much for them.

The home side did manage a second penalty from Mercier on 35 minutes, but that was to be their final score of the match.

By this point, the 100-plus Warriors fans who had made the trip to Northern Italy were having a ball as Worcester appeared to be running in tries for fun.

Charlie Fellows, who had supported well throughout the match, was rewarded for his efforts with try number five on 36 minutes which Jones converted.

Virtually from the re-start Tuitupou added another and a third successful kick from Jones gave Worcester a 38-6 half-time lead.

Petrarca let Warriors wait on the pitch at the start of the second-half, but those added words of encouragement in the dressing room didn’t seem to have much effect as Rico Gear re-started the scoring with try number seven for the visitors after just three minutes.

Gear, who was starting his first match after a month out with injury, had looked a bit rusty earlier in the game as he’d dropped a few balls, but he proved he’s determined to get back into action as he powered over on the bottom of a huge Worcester drive. Jones added a further two points with the conversion.

By now the heat was beginning to take its toll and both sides made numerous changes. First Chris Fortey was forced off with a shoulder injury and soon afterwards the Warriors coaches brought five further replacements onto the pitch.

Despite this, the final 30 minutes of play didn’t match the opening 50 as Worcester allowed Petrarca a bit more ball.

Latham did secure try number eight for his first hat-trick in a Worcester shirt on 54 minutes, which got a massive cheer from the travelling fans, but with the match easily won you could perhaps forgive the Warriors for bringing the pace down a level or two.

They still managed the final word, though, as replacement second row Greg Rawlinson proved he can run with a 30-metre individual effort.