Shillcock in for a treble as Warriors rout Russians

A JAMIE Shillcock hattrick ensured the Warriors got their Challenge Cup campaign off a flying start as they annihilated Enisei in Russia.

Worcester scored nine tries in total with Richard Palframan, Nick David, Jono Kitto, Justin Clegg, Gareth Simpson and Oli Morris also crossing the whitewash while Shillcock contributed 27 points in total.

All the Russian outfit could muster were two tries courtesy of Davit Meskhi and Dimitri Krotov with Ramil Gaisin kicking four points.

“We wanted to come here and get a good result so I think it was massively important and it will stand us in good stead for the rest of the pool,” said Shillcock.

“We talked about them coming out firing and we had to weather their ferocity in that opening period.

“I think we managed that really well and once we broke through them once we started to dominate both territorially and physically.

“It was nice to score a try as I hadn’t got one in a while. I could hear boys screaming at me on the outside but I thought I’d pin my ears back and go.

“We’ve started really well but we need to build on this against Castres next weekend.”

Despite the final scoreline Enisei came out of the blocks firing with the Warriors forced to defend in their own half. But the English side managed to keep their hosts at bay and once Palframan powered over from short range the floodgates opened.

David scored in the righthand corner just three minutes later before Shillcock crossed for their third as he sliced through the Enisei defence. The try bonus point was secured when Kitto broke through two tackles to touch down near the posts.

Worcester held a 31-0 lead at the interval after Morris ran in unopposed after the visitors had launched a counter-attack deep in their own half. Shillcock grabbed his second try just after the break after an initial burst from David.

To their credit, Enisei refused to throw in the towel with their captain Saulite muscling his way over the try line after a period of sustained pressure.

Shillcock completed his hat-trick after he opened up the Enisei defence before chipping ahead and regathering the ball to score.

Krotov grabbed a late consolation try for the hosts as he touched down off the back of a wellworked driving lineout.

But Worcester had the last laugh with Shillcock putting Simpson over to complete the scoring.