Warriors fall to Castres power at breakdown
The Warriors fought bravely and were unlucky not to claim a losing bonus point but didn’t have the power to cope with a physically imposing Castres pack.
Tries from Filipo Nakosi and Baptiste Delaporte, along with seven points from the boot of Argentinian international Benjamin Urdapilleta got the hosts over the line.
Duncan Weir scored all Worcester’s points from the kicking tee.
Worcester hooker Matt Moulds, who was making his club debut having signed from the Auckland based Blues, said: “In the end we were a couple of per cent off the pace in terms of getting to breakdowns.
“We missed a few opportunities. Credit to Castres they kicked really well and kept us down our end.
“They made it hard for us to create any opportunities. But it was great to put the Worcester shirt on for my debut.”
Worcester are now second in pool one, one point ahead of Castres and five behind the Dragons who top the pool. Their quarter-final hopes will likely be decided next month when they face crucial back to back games against the Welsh region.
There were very few try scoring opportunities in a scrappy affair at the Stade Pierre-Fabre but Castres were far more clinical than the Premiership outfit.
Weir and Urdapilleta exchanged early penalties before powerful Castres wing Nakosi crashed over in the corner despite the best efforts of Perry Humphreys and Cornell du Preez to keep him out.
Urdapilleta added the extras and Castres were soon celebrating their second try when Delaporte found some space in the Worcester defensive line to squeeze over the line.
The closest Worcester game to breaching Castres’ line was when Michael Heaney almost put Tedd Hill over at the corner with a superb cross-field kick.
The ball was dislodged from Hill’s grasp in the tackle on the line but the referee was playing penalty advantage which allowed Weir to kick a further three points, meaning the Warriors turned around 14-6 behind.
The second-half was a turgid affair with most promising attacks undermined by unforced errors from both sides.
Weir put Worcester back in range with another successful penalty attempt.
To their credit Worcester’s pack fought hard to drag themselves back into the game but their task became more difficult when South African No.8 Gerrit-Jan van Velze was sent to the sin bin for a late tackle.
The English side pushed hard for what would have been a crucial victory but whenever they built any pressure Castres managed to turn the ball over.
Urdapilleta rubbed further salt into Worcester’s wounds with a 73rd minute penalty to deny Alan Solomons’ side a losing bonus point.
Worcester pushed hard in the final minutes to leave the south of France with something put they lacked any sort of spark behind the scrum which will need to be rectified in the coming weeks.