Warriors are caught cold as barren run at Rec continues

WORCESTER kept up their record of never having won at the Rec after conceded 24 unanswered points in the first half hour.

Warriors’ latest defeat completed a run of 15 losses in all competitions at the Rec since 2005 and they will rue a very poor first 30 minutes which saw them give their opponents too much space.

Worcester did fight back to score four tries of their own and boss Alan Solomons said: “They were absolutely clinical but I thought we were brilliant to come back and turn the tide.

“We dominated after that and but for losing our two tight heads we could well have won, but to get a bonus point was fantastic.”

Bath’s first half performance was impressive with the aggression of Max Clark rewarding their pack’s efforts in which Zach Mercer and Mike Williams excelled.

Rhys Priestland’s penalty put the hosts on the board before neat footwork from Tom Homer created the first try by waltzing past Melani Nanai and Niall Annett to send Will Chudley on a 25m run to the line. Then Clark and Max Wright combined cleverly to create space for Levi Davis, who easily evaded Chris Pennell to score.

Bath were twice held up over the line but Elliott Stooke made it third time lucky before Warriors exerted their first period of pressure with Marco Mama forcing his way over.

Bath changed their half-backs at half-time but Max Green’s arm injury saw him last only two minutes, which forced Homer to stand in at scrum half.

Worcester loosehead Nick Schonert hobbled off, followed by his replacement Richard Palframan leaving loosehead Ryan Bower on the tighthead, which proved crucial as their scrum disintegrated.

The third quarter was scoreless but Nanai looked set to get the scoreboard rolling again by bursting clear from his 22 but a magnificent tackle by Tom De Glanville hauled down the Samoan inches short of the line.

Ollie Lawrence did cross but Bath’s increasing scrum dominance was rewarded with a penalty try. Sam Lewis was yellow carded for a deliberate off-side for Bath to capitalise when a superb long pass from Freddie Burns sent Aled Brew over before Ted Hill and Francois Hougaard tries saw Warriors pick up a bonus point.

Bath boss Stuart Hooper said: “It was a mixed bag from us as losing two 9s resulted in a big challenge. Early on we controlled the game with Max Clark giving us a lot of momentum but we became ragged.”