Schonert’s injury adds to misery for luckless Worcester

Worcester discovered just what a cruel game rugby can be on an afternoon in which nothing went right for them.

They lost Nick Schonert, one of the best tighthead props in the Premiership, with a suspected broken left ankle after just 24 seconds, had a try controversially disallowed for crossing, fly-half Sam Olver then struck a post with a penalty that would have given them the lead and they were denied the consolation of a bonus point when Wasps scored two tries in the last 12 minutes.

Schonert’s injury was a blow not just for Worcester but for watching England head coach Eddie Jones. He was named in England’s squad for their summer tour of Argentina but Schonert was forced to withdraw because of a hand injury.

Schonert would have expected to be named by Jones in his training squad for the autumn internationals. Instead, he faces a long spell on the sidelines, as does Scotland international fly-half Tom Heathcote who failed a head injury assessment.

Against lesser opponents Worcester might have been able to muddle through but facing last season’s runners-up, even though Wasps were some way below their best, they proved to be insurmountable handicaps.

Even Dai Young, Wasps’ director of rugby, thought that Worcester deserved a bonus point, but his words of sympathy will come as no consolation to a side that is already being tipped for relegation just two weeks into the season.

“I always felt we had another gear and I always thought we would just do enough to win but it was pretty cruel for Worcester not to get a bonus point,” Young said.

“We knew coming here that Worcester would bounce back from last week, that was a given. We knew they would be full of physicality and endeavour and energy and put us under lots of pressure which they did.”

Worcester certainly made life hard for Wasps with Ben Te’o ignoring

‘I thought we’d do enough to win but it was pretty cruel on Worcester to not get a bonus point’

the discomfort of an arm injury to lead a courageous defensive display which kept them in the game until Willie le Roux then Josh Bassett, who celebrated the birth of his first child with a try, sealed the win with well-worked scores.

Le Roux also featured in the build up to Wasps’ opening try, slipping a pass to Marcus Watson, who chipped and gathered a favourable bounce to score. The game was still taking shape when Heathcote went over under the posts after a diagonal run from wing Perry Humphreys but the try was disallowed by referee Thomas Foley after replays suggested that Sam Lewis had blocked Ashley Johnson in the build-up. Worcester captain Donncha Battling on: Worcester’s injured Ben Te’o is tackled by Alex Rieder O’callaghan remonstrated with the referee and Gary Gold, Worcester’s director of rugby, shared the anger.

“I was equally as furious. I think Ashley Johnson bit on the runner coming short and he chose to hit him. I don’t think that Sam changed his line. I absolutely think it was a try,” Gold said.

“Of course it’s going to be momentum shift. You ask the players to do a job, they have to cross the white line, and they did it. If it’s obstruction, it’s obstruction. But I don’t think that was the call.

“I am being cool and calm about it. I didn’t think there was enough obstruction to stop the try.”

Worcester did score three minutes later when Biyi Alo, Schonert’s replacement, rolled over the line in ruck. At 22-and-a-half stone Alo is the heaviest player in Premiership history and a man built for strength rather than speed.

Worcester lost some of their shape after Heathcote was injured in a crunching tackle by Nathan Hughes. With Ryan Mills also injured, Gold admitted that he might have to look for reinforcements for his battered squad.

With champions Exeter due at Sixways on Friday, Gold’s only current fly-half options are rookies Jamie Shillcock and Olver.

Although Olver landed a penalty which levelled the scores soon after he replaced Heathcote, his second kick struck the left post and the ball bounced out.

When Jimmy Gopperth’s touchline conversion of Bassett’s try rebounded in off the right hand post, it summed up Worcester’s luckless afternoon.