Late heroics see Warriors pip Bristol to promotion - The Worcester Observer

Late heroics see Warriors pip Bristol to promotion

Worcester Editorial 28th May, 2015 Updated: 19th Oct, 2016   0

Worcester Warriors 30 Bristol 30 agg 59-58

Greene King IPA Championship

Play-off final second leg

Geoff Berkeley reports from Sixways




THERE were scenes of utter jubilation at Sixways on Wednesday night as Worcester Warriors pulled off a sensational comeback to seal their place in the Aviva Premiership.

Bristol appeared to have one hand on the Greene King IPA Championship trophy when Nicky Robinson converted Matthew Morgan’s 70th minute try to make it 30-16.


But Warriors refused to give in and hit back with a penalty try before producing an unforgettable finale to a breath-taking contest.

With just 20 seconds remaining, Sixways star Chris Pennell crossed the whitewash before Ryan Lamb held his nerve to send Worcester into the top flight with the last kick of the season.

After coming from behind to snatch victory at the death at Ashton, Gate Warriors would have been keen to build on that momentum.

And they got off the mark first at a packed out Sixways as Lamb coolly dispatched a penalty on three minutes.

But it was Bristol who were applying most of the pressure in the early stages as Robinson brushed passed Mike Williams and went racing clear.

Fortunately for Warriors, the visitors only managed to turn that dominance into six points from the boot of Robinson.

Lamb soon levelled things up at 6-6 before Worcester made the first significant move in the match on the half hour mark.

Pennell latched on to Lamb’s grubber kick before showing superb speed and strength to dot down in the corner.

After landing the conversion, Lamb then slotted home a penalty to give Worcester a ten-point cushion as they led 16-6.

While Warriors’ fly half appeared to be rising to the occasion, his opposite number was having a nightmare in front of the sticks as he put another effort wide.

Lamb did miss his last attempt of the half to push his side further clear, but Warriors seemed to be well set to kick on in the second half.

However, the half-time interval appeared to come at the right time for Bristol as they came out for the second half with renewed hope and quickly opened the scoring with a penalty from Robinson.

Bristol were now in the ascendancy, but Worcester’s defence, which performed so well in the first leg, remained resilient.

That was the case until wing Cooper Vuna saw yellow with 20 minutes to go which left the hosts exposed down the right flank.

And Bristol made them pay for it as Jack Lam powered over from close range before the away side scored two more converted tries in a devastating spell.

On both occasions it was former Warriors ace David Lemi who did the damage as he released Jack Tovey for his score before creating Bristol’s next try.

This time, it was Morgan who benefitted as he went in under to posts to leave Robinson with a simple conversion.

At this point, Warriors’ fans were probably fearing the worst as their side needed to somehow summon two converted tries in the final ten minutes.

But Dean Ryan’s men did not lose hope and they were offered a lifeline on the 74th minute when referee JP Doyle awarded them a penalty try.

Lamb duly dispatched the extras to reduce the deficit to 30-23 and fill the Sixways faithful with belief while the visitors looked shell-shocked.

Since being relegated from the top flight in 2009, Bristol had failed on numerous occasions to return to the promise land of the Premiership.

But what happened in the last minute at Warriors will no doubt hurt the most. After Dwayne Peel was yellow carded, Worcester threw everything they had at Bristol before the ball was moved wide and Pennell dived over.

With the score at 30-28, all the pressure was now on Lamb to add the conversion to win the tie. And the cool-headed fly half made no mistake as his conversion broke Bristol’s hearts and sparked a long night of celebrations for Warriors.

 

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