TRIUMPHANT Worcester Warriors reclaimed their Premiership status with a clinical display to see off Cornish Pirates in the Championship final at Sixways.

Jubilant scenes greeted the final whistle as the Warriors players were presented with their trophy on the pitch after securing an overall 46-32 aggregate triumph.

An early Marcel Garvey try settled the nerves for the hosts, who had taken a nine-point lead into the game after the first leg in Cornwall, while Andy Goode’s boot maintained the pressure.

Credit to the Pirates, they refused to give in but, ultimately, Warriors’ powerful pack was too good and laid a solid foundation for last night’s victory with first-half domination of the set-piece.

Veteran front-five forwards Adam Black, Chris Fortey, Tevita Taumoepeau, Greg Rawlinson and Craig Gillies were immense in the opening 40 minutes as Richard Hill’s side took a vice-like grip on the tie.

After the break, Pitrates began to cut loose and, although they won the second period 14-12, Warriors had more than enough in the tank to hold on and clinch a fully-deserved success.

The jam-packed 12,024 Sixways crowd may have thought it was going to be one of those nights for Warriors when Rawlinson conceded a penalty, which Rob Cook dispatched, after just 29 seconds of the match.

Fly-half Goode settled things down with a well-struck leveller on five minutes, before Garvey’s score sent the home fans into raptures by dancing over the line after Fortey’s galloping hard yards had taken his team close.

A bone-crunching hit from the fired-up Miles Benjamin forced a knock-on which led to a drop-goal chance for Goode, which he struck poorly and missed.

Minutes later, though, the former England man found his range with a snap-shot at the posts, which was confirmed by the television match official.

Garvey had to be alert to make a brilliant try-saving tackle after Pirates’ silky fly-half Jonny Bentley had ghosted through, but the Warriors winger got back and dislodged the ball.

Thanks to the utter domination of their pack, Warriors were coasting towards half-time, but Cook gave them a reality-check when he slotted a penalty for off-side to pull the score back to 13-6.

Worcester made a scintillating start to the second-half and effectively killed the game off as a contest with two carbon-copy tries out wide.

Firstly Alex Grove sprang open the Pirates defence to send Benjamin racing down the touch-line to score, before the on-song winger turned provider to lay on a similar score for Goode.

The Worcester goal-kicker converted one of the two scores as the hosts threatened to run away with it, but Bentley spotted a gap down the short side of a ruck and sent Drew Locke over to quieten the Sixways supporters somewhat.

Pirates finished strongly and were awarded a penalty try after Neil Best had been yellow-carded for a cynical try-line intervention late on.

But Warriors’ nine-point lead from the first leg proved more than enough to take them back to the Premiership.

• See tomorrow's Worcester News for more from the match.