Woeful Warriors get a walloping on home turf
DEAN Richards expressed delight after his Newcastle Falcons snapped their 11-match Premiership losing run in style at Worcester – and said they had been threatening a performance like this for weeks.
The Falcons ran in six tries as they walloped the Warriors 45-10 at Sixways, securing their first league victory since November 6 and moving up to 11th in the process.
Converted tries from George Mcguigan, Brett Connon – who was perfect off the kicking tee – and Adam Radwan put them 21-5 in front at halftime, with a Connon penalty and further scores from Louis Schreuder, Trevor Davison and Jamie Blamire completing the rout.
“I am delighted for the boys because they have played well in recent weeks against some top teams and not had much luck,” said director of rugby Richards.
“We said at half-time that the Worcester players would get a bit of a b ***** king and we had to be ready. I thought we dealt with the first 10 minutes of the second half really well and we have been threatening to put in a performance like this. It gives us something to build on in the final months of the season.”
Richards was particularly impressed with England wing Radwan’s try, saying: “It is all about adding strings to his bow. There were so many good performances and Josh Basham and Freddie Lockwood in the back row again showed how much they have developed. We will enjoy the trip back.”
Meanwhile, Worcester’s lead rugby consultant Steve Diamond admitted he felt humiliated after seeing his side crushed 45-10 on home turf. The result sees the Warriors fall to 12th in the table, two points behind the Falcons.
An outbreak of Covid in the Worcester camp had forced the cancellation of the previous week’s fixture at Gloucester, but Diamond refused to use that as an excuse for his side’s woeful display.
“It was a performance that was totally out of character,” he said. “It was wholly pathetic. Newcastle are a hard-working side and they put us to bed. It was embarrassing and I feel for the Worcester supporter base.
“We were never at the races. We cannot use illness as an excuse because we trained reasonably well over the last few days. There are no excuses. We were completely off centre and did not compete in any area whatsoever. We could not hold on to the ball or string two passes together. No one performed well, me included, and I put the onus on myself to get them back up. I was going to give them next week off but I might change my mind about that now.”