Worcester lifted themselves off the bottom of the Zurich Premiership with a
hard-fought victory over London Irish at rain-lashed Sixways.
The Warriors chalked up their fourth win of the campaign thanks to tries from
Matt Powell and Thomas Lombard, while Tommy Hayes added two penalties.
The exiles found life tough in the set-piece with Worcester coming back
strongly from Monday's 50-7 mauling at Leicester. They did, however, manage
penalties from Mark Mapletoft and Barry Everitt.
Worcester opened up with a second minute penalty courtesy of Hayes as the
Irish found their high-tempo start too hot to handle.
Powell's quick ball and intelligent use of the boot gave the Warriors more
impetus and they dominated the opening skirmishes.
However, with referee Steve Lander trying to get some flow into the game,
centre Thomas Lombard was penalised for not rolling away and Mapletoft slotted
the equalising penalty five minutes later.
The parity did not last long as Worcester continued to put the Irish on the
back foot. Hayes had already missed an eminently kickable three-pointer before
he kicked a 13th minute penalty to put Worcester back in front.
And it just got better for the Sixways club as, on 25 minutes, the inspired
Powell charged down Michael Horak's clearance and the former Harlequins man
sprinted through to give Worcester an 11-3 lead.
They held onto that up until half-time only because of some dogged defence as
Irish hit back with wave after wave of attacks. And it was all the more
impressive as the Warriors were reduced to 14 men, just before the break, when
Tim Collier was shown a yellow card for pulling down in the line-out.
The Irish came out buoyed by the extra man in the second period but, after
five minutes and still no breakthrough, head coach Gary Gold withdrew half-backs
Mapletoft and Paul Hodgson in favour of Barry Everitt and Darren Edwards.
And it was Everitt, 15 minutes into the half, who brought the visitors back
into the match with a penalty.
That should have sparked Gold's side into action but instead, Worcester hit
back hard.
Boosted by the return of Collier, the Warriors began to get the upper hand in
the scrum and line-out and from one such steal, they took full advantage.
Brad MacLeod-Henderson rose highest on 58 minutes to give Worcester possession
and, two minutes later following numerous phases, Lombard dived over the line
and the vast majority of the sell-out 8,477 crowd were off their feet.
Teams
Worcester: Delport, O'Leary, Rasmussen, Lombard, Pieters,
Hayes, Powell, Windo, van Niekerk, Horsman, Collier, Gillies,
Hickey, Sanderson, MacLeod-Henderson.
Replacements: Fortey for Windo (62), Hall for van Niekerk (67),
Vaili for MacLeod-Henderson (67).
Not Used: Gabey, Cole, Trueman, Hinshelwood.
Sin Bin: Collier (39).
Tries: Powell, Lombard.
Pens: Hayes 2.
London Irish: Horak, Armitage, Staniforth, Mordt, Bishop,
Mapletoft, Hodgson, Wheatley, Russell, Durant, Strudwick,
Casey, Danaher, Dawson, Murphy.
Replacements: Appleford for Horak (55),
Kennedy for Staniforth (64), Everitt for Mapletoft (45),
Edwards for Hodgson (45), van der Walt for Russell (62),
Halsey for Durant (64), Reid for Murphy (53).
Pens: Mapletoft, Everitt.
Att: 8,477
Ref: S Lander (RFU).
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