A BONUS-point win forged in the Sixways academy helped Worcester Warriors make a flying start to their LV Cup campaign with revenge over much-changed Newcastle Falcons.

Tries from home-grown aces Miles Benjamin, Tom Wood, Ollie Frost and Jake Abbott went some way to making up for last weekend’s 14-3 defeat at Kingston Park in the Guinness Premiership.

However, the fact Steve Bates, the Falcons’ rugby director, opted to make 12 changes to his side shows exactly where this competition lies on his list of priorities.

Worcester’s victory was built around good old-fashioned forward grunt with the Warriors pack enjoying total dominance over their opposite eight.

Three of the four scores came from power-packed rolling mauls.

Early fast hands from Willie Walker, Sammy Tuitupou and Rico Gear put Marcel Garvey into a little bit of space but his attempted chip in behind went directly into touch.

Minutes later, Gear made a similar mistake when attempting to break down the opposite flank.

Aleki Lutui was hit for foul play after he was spotted putting his knee into a Falcons player at the breakdown and fly-half Rob Miller found the target with his penalty for the first points of the match.

Newcastle were then reduced to 14 men when openside flanker Mark Wilson cynically intervened at a ruck to deny Worcester the ball and Walker levelled with the penalty.

The hosts made their numerical advantage pay with dominant work by the forwards, who mauled large distances several times as the visiting pack struggled to stem the flow.

From such a drive by the Warriors eight, chaos was created and Ryan Powell linked with skipper Pat Sanderson to send Benjamin sliding over in the corner. Walker missed the conversion from out wide.

The hosts contined to dominate with full-back Chris Latham’s well-judged kick to the line putting more pressure on the Falcons defence. Acting as scrum-half, former Warriors wing Uche Oduoza fumbled to give Worcester an attacking scrum.

Several drives saw Mike Ruddock’s men within inches of their second try but, when Powell went wide, Walker’s attempted grubber kick was blocked and hacked upfield by visiting scrum-half Hall Charlton.

Falcons launched a breakaway up to the 22 but the ever-alert Latham tracked back well to clear up.

Seven minutes before the break, Newcastle hit back, forcing a penalty on half-way, but Miller’s long-range effort drifted wide left.

He was not so wasteful five minutes later when presented with an easier chance after Worcester hands in a ruck.

Walker gave Worcester breathing space early in the second-half by opting for a drop-goal after a probing spell by the home team.

However, Falcons refused to give in and enjoyed an extended spell deep in Warriors territory before a Tom Catterick knock-on handed the ball back.

With a penalty already in the bag after replacement openside Josh Afu broke early from his binding at a scrum, Walker attempted another drop-goal.

He was off target but, when play was brought back for the penalty, the New Zealander kicked to the corner.

Warriors set up the catch-and-drive and marched the Falcons back, forcing another penalty which was also kicked to the corner.

Second time around, though, they were not to be denied and Wood peeled off the back of the drive and dived over for the second score of the afternoon. Walker superbly stroked home the difficult conversion.

On 65 minutes, Newcastle were down to 14 men again when replacement hooker Rob Vickers was shown a yellow card within a minute of joining the action for throwing a punch at Chris Fortey.

Again, Worcester took advantage, marching the Falcons pack back to their own line where substitute scrum-half Ollie Frost showed a keen eye for the gap to dive over.

Walker’s last action before being replaced by George Crook was to slot the conversion.

It was then Sam Tuitupou’s turn to earn the referee’s ire with the former All Black being sent to cool down for 10 minutes after a high tackle.

Worcester secured the bonus point their forward dominance merited five minutes before the end when Jake Abbott became the third beneficiary of the powerful catch-and-drive tactic.

Crook added the extra points with a confident strike.