Worcester Warriors 39 Yorkshire Carnegie 26
Greene King IPA Championship
Geoff Berkeley reports from Sixways
FIRST it was the backs, then it was the kickers and now it is the forwards’ turn to frustrate director of rugby Dean Ryan.
The Warriors boss can’t seem to get the ‘complete performance’ he craves and last Saturday showed his side are still not the finished article.
On the front foot, Warriors looked unstoppable as a shell-shocked Yorkshire Carnegie found themselves 19-0 down inside the opening 20 minutes.
But while the backs were brilliant, the forwards floundered as their power-packed opponents forced their way back into the match.
A late try from Sam Betty ensured the win which kept the pressure on Greene King IPA Championship leader Bristol, who hammered Plymouth Albion 65-7.
But with just two games to go before the play-offs, Ryan admitted his side have yet to find the “clinical focus” to really dispatch teams.
“That’s probably the strongest attacking performance we have had for a long time,” he said.
“But we have not got people here to just be in attack, so we have got to underpin it with solid forward foundations and we did not get that right today and that’s what made the game tenser than it needed to be.
“The level of performance in that first 20 minutes put so much distance between us and them, but I am disappointed that we didn’t kick on and make that quite a significant lead.
“Yes, we nearly put 40 points on Leeds, but we need to be more robust at keeping some of the things that keep you in games in good shape.
“I would not usually be critical of our forward pack, but I am today. I don’t think there is an 80 minute performance I would be happy with him, but I think we can be more stable over that period to allow the things we do really well come to the fore.”
Everything certainly seemed to be working together in the first quarter of the game as Warriors flew out of the blocks.
The hosts took just three minutes to open the scoring with a try from Sam Smith before Sam Lewis got on the end of a driving maul to crash over for his maiden try for the club.
Yorkshire looked on course for a thrashing as Agustin Creevy got Worcester’s third try, which Ryan Lamb converted.
With the visitors also a man down following the sin-binning of Chris Jones, Warriors were expected to kick on and put Yorkshire to the sword.
But not for the first time this season, they let their opponents back into match with a try from Sam Egerton.
Chris Walker was the provider and he turned scorer eight minutes later as Yorkshire finished the first half in the ascendancy.
Suddenly, it was Warriors who found themselves under pressure as they started the second half with 14 men following a Jonathan Thomas yellow card.
Lamb landed a penalty to make it 22-14, but Yorkshire now had a foothold in the match and they soon closed the gap with a breakaway move, which resulted in Paul Hill burrowing over.
Despite Worcester’s frailties in the forward department, they still looked sharp in attack as Lamb launched a long pass to Max Stelling who cut inside for the bonus point try.
Lamb may have been struggling from the kick tee, but his passing was more often than not finding its intended target.
And on the 62nd minute, he sent another floating ball to Chris Pennell who darted over in the corner.
Yorkshire continued to cause Worcester problems as scrum half Egerton finished off a fine move, involving some superb handling from their forwards.
With Harry Leonard also adding the extras, this meant Bryan Redpath’s men needed just a converted try to snatch victory.
But Warriors eased any fears when Betty powered over for the match-winning try, which Andy Symons converted.