Worcestershire | Archive | 2006 | March | 13
From the archive, first published Monday 13th Mar 2006.
Friday, March 10, 2006
WORCESTER demolished one of the dominant forces in English rugby with a sensational performance on an unforgettable night at Sixways.
Not only did they humble the triple domestic champions, but they scored four tries for the first time in the league this season and, in so doing, all but guaranteed their Premiership status for next year.
Warriors were unrecognisable from the side that capitulated so inexplicably at Leeds two weeks earlier. They were fluid, composed and fiercely committed throughout the 80 minutes.
Not for the first time this season, fly-half Shane Drahm was the architect. He kicked seven from seven attempts at goal and was instrumental in much of his side's attacking play. There can be few better match-winning number tens in English rugby at the moment.
There were plenty of other heroes on the night. Tony Windo led from the front, Craig Gillies was untouchable at the line-out, Dale Rasmussen was impenetrable in midfield and Mark Tucker showed that he can be much more than a squad player. In short, it was a marvellous team effort.
Although nobody dared mention it before the game, Worcester were probably slight favourites against a side depleted by international call-ups and injuries.
Wasps were always going to struggle to match Worcester up front, where they were without the presence of England trio Lawrence Dallaglio, Joe Worsley and Simon Shaw and they also missed the scrummaging ability of Tim Payne in the front row.
While Worcester's forwards looked like the well-drilled unit you would expect from a group that had been preparing for the game for two weeks, their opponents looked like what they were -- an assortment of squad players lumped together out of necessity.
Where Wasps did have quality was in their back division, but with their forwards dominated at the set-piece and indisciplined at the breakdown, the danger men saw little of the ball.
Worcester led after an early penalty and the first try came about after a wonderful break from Tucker. The former Northampton man then released Nicolas Le Roux, who sent Aisea Havili over in the corner.
Drahm slotted the conversion from the trickiest of angles and then added a penalty from inside his own half, albeit with a strong following wind. A slightly easier one on the half-hour mark put the hosts firmly in control.
Worcester had failed to take advantage of having an extra man when Wasps' hooker Joe Ward was sin-binned following a scuffle and the visitors hit back when open-side Tom Rees gathered the ball at the back of the line-out and was driven over for the try.
With the countdown clock ticking down to zero, Worcester's five-metre scrum was twice pulled down and referee Sean Davey awarded a penalty try to give the home side a 15-point half-time advantage.
Within three minutes of the re-start, Phil Murphy found himself in the right place to capitalise on some good work by Kai Horstmann and score the third try.
Suddenly Sixways seemed to be in a state of shock and the crowd went relatively quiet before registering their disapproval when Paul Sackey pole-axed Havili and was sent to the bin.
The deafening roar that characterised the first-half returned in injury-time when Drahm teed up replacement Thinus Delport for the try that secured the vital bonus point.
Havili thought he had put the icing on the cake when he intercepted a pass and ran the length of the field, before realising that Davey had signalled for off-side.
But it didn't matter and, moments later, Worcester claimed another scalp and five precious points.
Warriors: Le Roux; Havili, Rasmussen, Lombard, Tucker (Delport); Drahm, Gomarsall (Powell); Windo, C Fortey (Hickie), Taumoepeau (L Fortey), Murphy (O'Donoghue), Gillies, Horstmann (Vaili), Harding, Hickey.
Warriors man-of-the-match: ShaneDrahm.
Attendance: 9,726.
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