HAVING lost to Cardiff in pre-season, the chat in the car on the way down was negative, to say the least, which unfortunately has been something we have got used to this season.
But by half-time we were making silly telephone calls to our friends who could not make the trip as Worcester led 21-6.
Our words were with a certain amount of caution, though, as we were down to 14 men for the start of the second half, knowing Cardiff would have nothing to lose and all to gain by upping the tempo.
After an outstanding first ten minutes, Worcester should have controlled the game with 15 men, but instead we went into ‘rabbit in headlights’ mode. And the cause was simple – we had no idea what to do to close out a game.
But after gifting Cardiff a try, the boys dug in and when the whistle was finally blown the sense of relief and, indeed, disbelief kicked in.
As fans ran onto the ‘plastic pitch’ at the end of the game, we thought it was also ironic that our last win was on St David’s Day back in March and here we were in Wales celebrating our first victory in a competitive game under Dean Ryan.
After checking with our Cardiff friends if we had not dreamt what had happened at Arms Park, we thought it was only right to help the local economy by heading to the pub. And, at last, it tasted good.
By Dave Long