WORCESTER Warriors suffered a narrow 28-25 defeat away at Hartpury as Matt Everard’s side came away with two bonus points.
Warriors threatened a late comeback after Roma Zheng crossed for his second try in the final five minutes at the 4ED Hartpury Stadium.
Zheng crossed for Worcester’s first try earlier in the game while Lloyd Williams and Harvey Cuckson also crossed.
The result means Worcester sit sixth in the Champ Rugby table after two matches.
Warriors suffered an early blow as Khalik Kareem received a yellow card after just four minutes.
And Hartpury took full advantage of the extra man to score the game’s first try on nine minutes as Ollie Holliday dotted down in the corner.
However, Worcester responded on 14 minutes when Zhang collected a looping pass and finished in the corner.
More ill-discipline cost Warriors later in the half with Williams sent to the sin-bin for a deliberate knock-on.
A penalty from Harry Bazalgette edged Hartpury back in front before the home side lost Keir Clark to the sin-bin.
Worcester made the most of the extra man to take the lead on the stroke of half time as Williams sniped over from a scrum.
And the visitors stretched their lead on 45 minutes when Cuckson finished from a driving maul and Will Reed added the extras.
Another Bazalgette penalty reduced the deficit before Alex Morgan crossed on 56 minutes after pouncing on a loose ball to score from inside his own half.
Bazalgette’s conversion put Hartpury back in front before the same player kicked a penalty to extend the home side’s lead.
And Louie Trevett scored a close-range try on 64 minutes which Bazalgette converted to put the home side into a commanding 11-point lead.
A Tiff Eden penalty closed the gap to eight points before Zheng crossed for his second of the game late on with Worcester unable to find another score in the final few minutes.
Worcester are next in action against Ampthill on Friday, October 17 with kick-off at 7.45pm at Sixways Stadium.
