Warriors charge gains momentum at home
A FIRST Premiership away victory since September 2020 may still be tantalisingly out of reach, but Worcester are starting to enjoy home comforts at Sixways.
Following victory over Sale and a Premiership Cup defeat of Bristol Bears, the Warriors have now chalked up three consecutive home victories for the first time since December 2019.
It seems an all-too-obvious point to make, but when Jonathan Thomas is able to name the likes of Melani Nanai, Duhan van der Merwe and Rory Sutherland in the same team, the perpetual league strugglers seem capable of finding another gear. They claimed a tense bonuspoint victory here.
Thomas is delighted to see the confidence building in his squad. “Confidence and momentum is a massive thing in sport,” he said. “There is no bad team and no bad squad in this league at the moment and confidence is the difference between winning and losing. Our confidence is building.”
The home side produced an excellent first-half display to lead 25-14 at the interval. The Warriors were dealt an early setback with Melani Nanai sent to the bin for making contact with the head.
It didn’t unduly bother the hosts who opened the scoring with a try from Gareth Simpson after Van der Merwe had created the score with a searing break.
Worcester were unable to add to their early score with Wasps levelling with a try from Vaea Fifita just before the 20-minute mark. The Wasps score sparked the Warriors back into life and a penalty for Fin Smith was quickly followed by a try for Van der Merwe with the wing racing over from inside his own half after a smart flick-on by Ashley Beck.
Wasps struck back through Dan Frost, with
the mobile hooker hitting the line at pace. At 17-14, the game was finally poised, but then Worcester thundered back with a further penalty from Smith and a try for co-captain Ted Hill.
The second half began with Worcester once again on the front foot and in the ascendency. Replacement Will Chudley was on hand to score the bonus-point try with the No.9 racing over after good work from fellow replacement Joe Batley and Sione Vailanu.
Wasps fought back and after the visitors were able to kick to the corner when Worcester were penalised, Frost was on hand to power over from close range. The final quarter of the game saw Wasps exert extreme pressure on the hosts with Graham Kitchener sent to the bin.
That pressure finally told with replacement Sam Wolstenholme crossing after some neat interplay by the visitors.
The final ten minutes were extremely tense as Wasps continued to press the hosts. Wasps kicked to the corner and, after claiming the line-out, scored through Tom Willis. But with the visitors just one point behind, Jimmy Gopperth was unable to land the touchline conversion.
Wasps went back on the attack in search of a memorable victory, but Worcester held on.
Thomas added: “I am really proud of the players for winning the game. We weren’t great in the second half as we made some basic errors that allowed them territory.
“We are striving for consistency. We are not the finished article by any means and we are well aware of that. We go into the Challenge Cup now really looking forward to that competition.
“We have to give credit to Wasps. They showed real character to come back. We opened up a substantial lead and they fought really hard and played well at times.”