Worcester Warriors 56 London Scottish 15
Greene King IPA Championship
Geoff Berkeley reports from Sixways
ANY FEARS Worcester Warriors were starting to wobble were quashed by an eight-try thrashing of third placed London Scottish.
Last week’s defeat at Jersey – Worcester’s first loss since September – followed by an unconvincing first half display last Saturday led to a few groans of disapproval from the Sixways faithful.
Mercurial fly half Ryan Lamb caused most of the bemusement in the stands as he played a part in the Exiles’ two tries in the opening period.
But Warriors and Lamb turned on the style in the second half as Cooper Vuna, Sam Smith, Sam Betty, Max Stelling and Jonny Arr went over.
And director of rugby Dean Ryan believed the comprehensive victory fired a warning shot at their promotion rivals.
“It’s pretty obvious (we’ve put a big marker down),” Ryan said. “We scored over 50 points against a third place side and they are going to have to deal with that loss, so if they meet us (in the play offs) they will know what is coming.
“We also know we can be much better as we gave them their 15 points, so the warning is out there.
“I think we got a bit of both from Ryan (Lamb). He made a slow start, but he had not played for four or five weeks and then made things tick in the second half.”
Those who made the long trip to Jersey would have been hoping to see a response from their side after their lacklustre display last week.
But they appeared to pick up from where they left off as a poor kick into touch from Lamb led to a lineout deep in their half.
And London Scottish made them pay for the early mistake as their forwards charged towards the line before Mark Bright peeled off the back and crashed over.
The try seemed to spark Worcester into life, though, as Stelling started a stunning move from deep which involved Leonardo Senatore and Jonny Arr.
Stelling got the ball back before releasing Lamb who dived over the try-line. Andy Symons slotted home the conversion and it did not take long before the centre had another chance to extend his side’s lead.
A driving maul saw prop Ryan Bower power over which Symons followed up with a coolly dispatched kick.
The quick-fire double should have given Warriors the platform to kick on, but instead they gave away two soft scores. Peter Lydon fired over a penalty before intercepting Lamb’s pass and running in under the posts to leave himself a simple conversion.
Suddenly, Warriors found themselves 15-14 and they appeared rattled as their error count rose, with Lamb struggling to find his passing range.
But the hosts continued to persist and got their reward five minutes before the break. Mike Williams broke through and set up Chris Pennell who scored Worcester’s third try, which Symons converted.
Vuna had only shown glimpses of his electric pace in the opening period, but it did not take long for him to set Sixways alight in the second period.
With less than a minute on the clock, Vuna raced through for his maiden try for the club while also securing the bonus point.
Worcester then gave themselves a further cushion when Smith got on the end of his grubber kick, which Symons once again converted.
The visitors refused to give in and put together a ten-minute spell of heavy pressure, but Worcester held firm and added to their advantage after the hour mark.
Betty was driven over from close range before Stelling gathered Lamb’s long pass and eased over in the corner.
Warriors then completed the rout with a fine passing move down the left which was finished off by Arr before Symons made it eight conversions from eight.