Warriors fall at final hurdle with Erbani crashing over

WORCESTER Warriors were denied a gritty victory by a last-minute Pau try from Antoine Erbani.

The boot of Jamie Shillcock, a penalty try and an effort from Gareth Simpson looked like it would be enough to give Alan Solomons’ side a much-needed win after a poor start to the season.

But with the clock in the red zone, Pau snatched victory when their giant pack picked and drove with Erbani going over for the winning score in the last play.

Worcester, sporting 14 changes from last week’s defeat at Bath, almost took a second minute lead but Jamie Shillcock fired his penalty attempt wide.

It was no surprise that Pau’s strengths started up front. The French side won a free-kick at an early scrum and after that Warriors were keen to keep the ball away from the set-piece.

Solomons’ side went ahead when Will Butler chipped ahead and collected his own kick to touch down. Referee Andrea Picardi checked the score with his TMO Cyril Lafon who judged there to have been obstruction in the buildup and a penalty try was awarded.

In a further boost to Worcester, Pau full-back Charly Malie was yellow carded for the foul play.

Pau hit straight back. Their giant forwards got a driving maul going and tighthead prop Nicolas Corato was driven over for the try. Samuel Marques converted.

Worcester’s attempt to put pace on the ball was evident and it paid dividends with scrum-half Gareth Simpson taking a quick tap and go to make the line. Shillcock kicked the extras.

However Worcester’s hopes took a huge blow when Eoghan Barrett went over from a scrum with the last action of the first half and Marques’ conversion tied things up at 14-14 at the break.

Pau’s upper hand at the scrum continued at the start of the second period. They won a setpiece penalty and Marques stepped up to put the French side into the lead. Shillcock almost immediately squared up the scores with a penalty and then went one better with another three-point effort which made it 20-17 in Worcester’s favour.

Pau unloaded their bench and Marques was one of the eight men to depart. His replacement Clovis Le Bail had a chance to level the scores in the 70th minute, but his accuracy was off.

Worcester had a nervous last five minutes as they hung on desperately, but they couldn’t quite do it as they suffered heartbreak at the death with Erbani doing the damage with Caleb Montgomery in the sin bin for foul play.