Gustard embarassed by Quins
WORCESTER ended their eight-match losing run to record their first league victory of 2020 after bullying Quins into submission in the first-half to leave Paul Gustard shell-shocked.
Worcester, who had not won in the league since beating London Irish over Christmas, led 26-0 at halftime with three pushover tries from Cornell Du Preez, Ollie Lawrence and Niall Annett.
Scrum-half Francois Hougaard then broke to score his first try of the season to earn a bonus point before the break.
Quins rallied with tries from England winger Chris Ashton and replacement Elia Elia, but Worcester were deserved winners.
Worcester director of rugby Alan Solomons said: “Our defence was really good, as was our scrum and lineout. It was important to win and for us to get our first bonus-point win of the season was exactly that – a bonus.”
Warriors made tenchanges from last Friday’s 32-17 loss at Wasps, while Quins made eight changes after Saturday’s 38-24 defeat at Saracens.
Worcester pack were in unstoppable form as No.8 Du Preez, centre Ollie Lawrence and hooker Annett all touched down from rolling mauls before Hougaard raced over in the 39th minute.
England scrum-half Danny Care’s return off the bench on 57 minutes for his first appearance since the restart after a back injury, helped invigorate Quins and they scored twice through England winger Chris Ashton and replacement hooker Elia Elia.
Warriors finished with 14 men after a late yellow card for prop Callum Black, but the visitors could not score again.
Duncan Weir’s penalty, to add to his three first-half conversions, had given the hosts the extra cushion and left Harlequins hurting.
Quins boss Paul Gustard said: “I am embarrassed. It was a sobering first 40 minutes – we never saw that coming. That’s not to say we are an arrogant team and we think that we are going to dominate teams physicalThe ly. We didn’t think we picked people that were going to get steam-rollered, but that’s exactly what happened. We got bullied when we carried the ball.
“We lost 25 per cent of our lineout ball, and the story of the game was that we never got a foothold in it because we didn’t control any territory.
“Everyone is hurting. That first 40 minutes is one of the lowest points of my coaching career. We never got to fire a shot, we were on the back foot all the time.”