Worcester usher in new era by running up record victory
No need for the new owners to go hunting for the receipt. Worcester capped off a week when their offfield business was resolved following the takeover by a new consortium by thumping Bristol at here, both a record win for the Warriors in the Gallagher Premiership and the most points they have scored in a league fixture.
These two sides made up almost all of the pre-season tips for relegation but, given the bluster they have played with this season, they deserved better than that low billing. However, it will be Worcester who head into European competition full of confidence, having moved six points clear of bottomside Newcastle and into seventh place.
As for Bristol, this was a harrowing performance, their glaring deficiencies both in defence and at the scrum on full display, with Pat Lam’s side missing one out of every four tackle attempts.
After this performance it might be sensible to put the club’s ambitions of making the top six on hold, but Lam believes otherwise.
“We definitely still want to be in the Champions Cup next year, but on those sort of performances we know we are not good enough, and we will be judged on that until the next time we front up,” he said.
By the end at Sixways it was a demolition job, with Bristol shipping seven tries in comfortably their worst performance since returning to the Premiership.
Bristol made the better start but that was where their highlights reel for the afternoon came to an early end, with prop Yann Thomas opening the scoring. It was the loosehead’s offload out of the tackle that released Jack Lam through the middle of Worcester’s defence, before the visitors recycled, with Thomas on hand to race over for his first Premiership try on his 79th appearance.
Bristol’s preference to attack from all areas might be entertaining but their defence needs a lot of work.
Worcester have not struggled to score tries this season and, after a Duncan Weir penalty came their riposte: Bryce Heem holding the ball for just long enough to give Gerritjan van Velze a free run once Alapati Leiua had slipped off the No8 all too easily, putting Worcester 10-7 ahead with Weir’s conversion.
Worcester benefited from an outstanding individual performance in the back row from Sam Lewis and a pair of crashing carries by the open side laid the foundation for a sustained attack from the home side, culminating in a deserved try for the impressive Ryan Mills after he coasted his way over with a dummy to make it 17-7.
From such a bright start, Bristol were now in a real hole, summed up by Worcester’s third try. Having been marched back 10 metres following Siale Piutau’s complaints to referee Wayne Barnes, a leaping Leiua managed to prevent a lineout but, in the process, tapped the ball forwards, conceding a dangerous scrum. Lewis could not cap off a bright first half with a try but Marco Mama was on hand soon after to slip through a gap and twist the knife into his former side.
Once Francois Venter had sprinted home from 80metres out for an interception score the contest was over, Venter finishing with a forward-roll flourish to put Worcester 31-7 ahead with the second half still to come.
Quick tries by club stalwart Chris Pennell and then Josh Adams, the latter picking off a risky Piutau offload for Worcester’s second interception score, piled on the points and left the Warriors within striking distance of a Premiership victory by a record margin.
Ryan Bower’s red card for foul play tainted Worcester’s afternoon only slightly, but the contest was long over, with Heem deservedly popping up on the wing for that record-breaking final try.
“Every chance we got we pretty much took, and that was very useful for us,” said Alan Solomons, the Worcester director of rugby.
“We had a shaky first 10 minutes but, after that, we were able to convert pressure into points and Chris Pennell’s try early in the second half was crucial, as it probably ruled out any comeback.”