The Sunday Telegraph - Sport

Denton gives hope to Worcester

- By Paul Bolton at Sixways

If Worcester avoid relegation they will owe their survival to the outstandin­g contributi­ons made in this match by two players who will not be with them next season.

Scotland flanker David Denton and centre Jackson Willison, who are bound for Leicester and Bath respective­ly, were rampant in a second half which saw Worcester score 21 unanswered points to put a dent in Newcastle’s play-off hopes.

Denton scored two tries from close range while Willison tormented the visitors with his pace and strength in attack which included a devastatin­g break that set up the decisive try for Nick Schonert. Newcastle’s defeat was the first time in ten away league games that they had been beaten by a side from outside the top three.

Worcester were so dominant that they could easily have scored at further 19 points. Chris Pennell missed three penalties before he handed the kicking duties to debutant Dorian Jones and Pennell and Will Spencer had secondhalf tries disallowed for knock-ons.

Those lapses meant that Worcester missed out on a bonus point and, with London Irish winning at Harlequins, the gap at the bottom of the table has been reduced to nine points.

“I was unaware of the Irish score. We never discussed it,” said Worcester director of rugby Alan Solomons. “We have to control what we can control. We just focus on this game and when the game is finished you can see where everyone stands. Because we played well we remain in control of our own destiny.”

Newcastle’s defeat did not come as a surprise to their director of rugby, Dean Richards. “We said last week that we have been winning but not playing as well as we could,” he said. “Today we came unstuck against a team that capitalise­d.”

Thanks to a try from Niki Goneva, created by Sinoti Sinoti’s overhead flick to Chris Harris, Newcastle led at halftime but they looked vulnerable when Willison and his centre partner Ben Te’o attacked them and their defence eventually buckled under pressure.

“It’s like cricket, the opening batsmen go and build the innings and the numbers four, five and six make the runs. It’s the same in rugby. If you can keep it up you will reap the rewards in the back 20 minutes,” said Solomons. Scoring 3-0 Pennell pen; 3-3 Flood pen; 3-6 Flood pen; 6-6 Pennell pen; 6-11 Goneva try; 6-13 Flood con; 11-13 Denton try; 13-13 Jones con; 18-13 Schonert try; 20-13 Jones con; 25-13 Denton try; 27-13 Jones con. Worcester C Pennell; B Heem, B Te’o, J Willison (D Hammond 70), J Adams; J Shillcock (D Jones 59), J Arr (M Dowsett 54); R Bower, J Singleton, N Schonert (G Milasinovi­ch 75), D Barry (A Kitchener 54), W Spencer, D Denton, S Lewis (M Mama 49), G van Velze (captain). Newcastle A Tait; V Goneva (A Radwan 68), C Harris, J Matavesi D Waldouck 70), S Sinoti; T Flood (J Hodgson 55), S Stuart; S Lockwood (R Vickers 22-35 & 68), K Cooper (S Lawson 31), S Wilson, C Green, S Robinson (W Witty 49), E Olmstead, W Welch (captain), N Latu (C Chick 68). Referee Christophe Ridley (Gloucester­shire).

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