Warriors muscled out by Moseley lock stars

WORCESTER suffered an embarrassing defeat in the incessant rain at Billesley Common but Moseley’s victory was no fluke.

The National One side were more streetwise and had the greater will to win – and outmuscled the Premiership pack with locks Buster Lawrence and Lewis Bean on top in an arm-wrestle of a game.

Worcester coach Carl Hogg said: “It was messy and we didn’t focus on the basics – we lost the ball in contact 17 times. Our discipline and error count were poor.”

Hogg confirmed Marco Mama and Luke Baldwin have significant injuries and will be out for some time but Ethan Waller, Nick Schonert and David Denton are set to return within four weeks.

A neat drop-goal from Sam Olver and a close range try from Huw Taylor gave Warriors a 10-7 interval lead but it was never going to be enough.

Lawrence had driven over in the first half to provide an indication of what lay in store as Ciaran Moore repeated the dose early in the second half as Moseley dominated possession and territory.

A Ben Howard try kept Warriors in contention before Moseley sealed victory with the best try of the game with Sam Hollingsworth evaded weak tackling to send Mark Harrison over.

Newly appointed Moseley coach Simon Cross said: “The weather was a huge leveller. The game was emotional for us. It’s a squad of great characters.”