WILLIE Walker’s 75th-minute penalty secured Worcester Warriors a 12-12 Guinness Premiership draw with Bath at Sixways tonight.
The New Zealand Maori stand-off slotted four kicks to cancel out the efforts of Ryan Davies, who booted all 12 of Bath’s points.
Within the first minute, Miles Benjamin was penalised for holding on but Bath’s Jack Cuthbert hooked the penalty off target.
Bath centre Ben Williams picked off a Walker pass on his own 22 but was well offside, which allowed his opponent to open the scoring with a simple penalty.
Mike Ruddock’s side put the Bath scrum under immense pressure, forcing them to knock-on and, from the resulting scrum, the front row put in a huge shunt to win a penalty.
But Walker’s effort came back off the post and Bath managed to scramble the ball into touch.
On the 25-minute mark, Bath levelled the scores with a regulation penalty from Davies after Worcester had infringed at the breakdown.
The visitors looked set to score when Danny Grewcock gathered a yard out but a superb cover tackle from Benjamin forced the lock to cough the ball up.
The West Country side did take the lead shortly afterwards, though, when Davies slotted another kick after prop Callum Black was over-eager in his defence at a ruck.
The half ended with Walker’s penalty attempt dropping just short after Warriors tighthead Tevita Taumoepeau’s strong scrummaging won a penalty.
Chris Latham’s attempt to chase down his own hoisted kick was illegally halted in the second period and Walker made no mistake in levelling.
But Marcel Garvey’s needless knock-on gave Bath a scrum, from which they were awarded a penalty and Davies slid the ball inside the upright for a 9-6 lead.
Latham then intelligently chipped in behind Bath before volleying the bouncing ball into the away 22, where the fast-arriving forwards won the put-in.
Warriors’ front row again dominated to win another penalty, which Walker stroked through the uprights to ensure parity.
But, seconds later, Sam Tuitupou was penalised for a late hit on Nick Abendanon and Davies nudged Bath ahead.
As Walker chipped over the defensive line, Tuitupou caught Michael Stephenson fractionally late and, this time, referee Wayne Barnes reached for his pocket and sent the Kiwi to the bin.
With five minutes left on the clock, as Worcester looked to surge into the Bath half, the visitors were penalised at the breakdown and Walker calmly slotted his 45-metre effort to secure a share of the spoils.
Warriors: Latham 9; Garvey 6 (Gear 55, 7), Rasmussen 7, Tuitupou 7, Benjamin 8; Walker 8, Powell 7 (Arr 64, 7); C Black 7 (A Black 70, 6), Lutui 8 (Fortey 70, 6), Taumoepeau 8 (Sourgens 70, 6), Rawlinson 7, Gillies 8, Wood 8, Sanderson 7, Horstmann 7. Not used: Kitchener, Abbott, MacRae.
Referee: Wayne Barnes.
Attendance: 10,194.
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