WORCESTER Warriors’ bid to climb the Guinness Premiership table was blown off course at blustery Kingston Park as they suffered defeat to Newcastle Falcons.

Three penalties from the boot of Jimmy Gopperth and a close-range try from hooker Rob Vickers gave the Falcons their second successive league win as Worcester toiled to match Carl Hayman and the Newcastle pack, who were in control throughout.

Willie Walker got Worcester on the scoresheet in the second-half, but Mike Ruddock’s men were always playing catch-up. Heavy rain created wretched conditions and the game suffered as both teams struggled in strong winds.

Worcester were dealt a blow before kick-off when full-back Chris Latham was forced out of the game through illness, handing Calum MacRae a first Premiership start for Warriors.

Newcastle showed early strength at the scrum to win a penalty and Gopperth kicked to touch. The ball was secured and the home side drove towards the Worcester line with real menace.

Falcons had promised Worcester a real test up front and that was proving the case in the opening quarter with another scrum under real pressure before skipper Pat Sanderson picked up at the back, stepped inside his man and then fed MacRae to pump the ball to safety.

A chip ahead by scrum-half Micky Young forced Miles Benjamin to retreat at pace and beat Danny Williams in a sprint to the line to touch back. The home pressure was mounting on the over-worked Warriors defence and another five-metre scrum saw Mark Sorenson only stopped by a last-ditch tackle from Tom Wood before the ball popped to Vickers to burrow over. Gopperth was just wide with the extras as Newcastle were rewarded for a strong start.

A handling error from Tom Biggs finally gave Worcester some territory from the restart. Craig Gillies, on his 150th top-flight start, secured the ball and Sam Tuitupou bulldozed men out of the way before Falcons were caught offside.

The strong wind was making penalties an almost impossible, so Walker opted to kick to the corner. After several runs at the home defence, the play was disrupted and crossing saw ball back in Newcastle hands.

Big hits from Aleki Lutui and Greg Rawlinson hammered Newcastle back and Tuitupou knocked Charlie Amesbury off his feet as he looked to curl a run inside the last man. The penalty, though, went against Worcester at the breakdown and Gopperth drilled a kick low over the posts.

A high, hanging kick from Falcons drew an error from Rico Gear. However the hosts had already been hit for offside, despite scrum-half Ryan Powell’s kick being charged down and Tu’ipulotu touching down.

After the break, Newcastle turned the screw in the scrum to slowly work their way back into home territory before a penalty for offside saw Gopperth kick the hosts further ahead and into a commanding 11-0 lead.

Walker got Warriors off the mark with a well-taken penalty just after the hour when the hosts took a man out in the air. Worcester then sensed they could yet muster something from the game as a penalty for holding on saw Walker again kick to set up an attack.

The match entered the dying minutes with Worcester looking to set up field position, but a basic error by Powell saw ball turned over and, within seconds, Gopperth kicked his team further ahead to cement the misery.