Worcester Warriors 11 Newcastle Falcons 16
Aviva Premiership
WITH seven months left of the Aviva Premiership season, it is probably too early to talk about relegation.
But five defeats from five has left Worcester Warriors fans fearing the worst as their club remain rooted to the foot of the table – seven points adrift of safety.
Phil Godman’s 73rd minute penalty sealed victory for a stubborn Newcastle Falcons side after Ignacio Mieres’ boot and a David Lemi try brought Warriors back into the match.
However, the damage was done in a disappointed opening 20 minute period as the visitors opened up an 13-0 advantage, which Worcester failed to overhaul.
It was also Warriors tenth match without a league victory, but director of rugby Dean Ryan insisted his confident-hit side must continue to plug away to stand any chance of claim that illusive win.
“There’s been times this season we’ve got things right but we’re not going to pretend we’re brimming full of confidence after five losses,” Ryan said.
“We’ve got to work our way through and work at being more competitive and more resilient week in week out.”
The Warriors boss will also be hoping to see better starts to games than the one he witnessed on Saturday afternoon as Rory Clegg opened the scoring with a penalty inside the first three minutes.
Worcester appeared out of sorts as a loose error saw Newcastle break up field before scrum half Mike Blair scampered over the whitewash. Clegg added the extras to leave Warriors trailing 10-0.
With plenty riding on the encounter between two sides struggling for form, the game descended into a kicking contest.
But it was the Falcons which were on top in that department as Clegg showed his accuracy from 40 metres, while Mieres fired his penalty effort wide of the posts.
As the half wore on Worcester began to find their feet and cause Newcastle’s defence some problems. And they came agonisingly close to scoring. Chris Pennell slotted through a grubber kick, but Alex Grove, who came on for the injured Ravai Fatiaki, was just unable to touch the ball down.
A Mieres penalty finally got Warriors off the mark as they dominated the closing stages of the opening period. The Falcons also went a man down as former Worcester prop Oliver Tomaszczyk was sin-binned.
But the hosts failed to take advantage of that period and turn possession into points. Mieres closed the gap with a penalty, but a try continued to evade them as Newcastle defended strongly for long periods.
With the game entering its final 15 minutes, Warriors continued to up the intensity and they were eventually rewarded. After replacement Paul Warwick was stopped short of the line, Lemi drove over to close the gap to within two points.
But in a frenetic few minutes the match took another twist. Warriors were on the attack, but Newcastle managed to regain possession and Chris York sprinting clear.
Josh Drauniniu got back to deny the number eight, but the Falcons did not come away empty handed as Warriors were penalised and Godman fired home.
Newcastle then dug deep to cling on and claim a narrow victory as Worcester were left to settle with a losing bonus point.
