A LATE try from Juan Gonzalez earned Worcester Warriors a first home win of the year with a narrow 25-20 victory against Doncaster Knights.
Gonzalez dotted down four minutes from time after early scores from Austin Wallis and Hallam Chapman put Warriors into an early lead at Sixways Stadium.
However, Doncaster staged a second-half comeback as tries from Joe Margetts and East Timor Viliamu and two penalties from Russell Bennett turned the game in the away side’s favour.
But Worcester snatched the points with a late try as Gonzalez dotted down to earn Worcester a first home win since mid-December.
And the result means Worcester sit third in the Champ Rugby table, three points behind Bedford Blues in second.
The visitors took an early lead when Bennett kicked a penalty after just two minutes.
However, Worcester scored the game’s first try on nine minutes as Wallis crashed over from the back of a driving maul.
Gonzalez and Tim Anstee then combined down the right wing to release Will Lane who delivered a pass to Chapman who dotted down with the game 15 minutes old.
The home side extended their lead to 12 points when Will Reed kicked a penalty after he had earlier converted Chapman’s try.
However, Doncaster reduced the deficit to five points before the break as Margetts finished out wide following Telusa Veainu’s powerful break and Bennett converted.
Worcester created a two-score gap between the teams when Reed kicked a second penalty five minutes into the second half.
Doncaster responded with a penalty of their own as Bennett narrowed the gap between the teams to a single score.
And with Worcester’s James Short in the sin-bin Viliamu scored the away side’s second try from a driving maul and Bennett converted to put Doncaster ahead.
However, there was still time for one final twist as Doncaster lost Zach Kerr to the sin-bin and Gonzalez burst through a gap to score the game’s decisive try on 76 minutes which Reed converted.
