Doncaster Knights 5 Worcester Warriors 35
British & Irish Cup final
Geoff Berkeley reports from Castle Park
WORCESTER Warriors claimed their first piece of silverware of the season with an impressive performance to defeat Doncaster Knights.
The match was all but won by half-time as Worcester powered into a 29-0 lead thanks to tries from Dean Hammond, Alex Grove, JB Bruzulier and Dan George.
Doncaster got on the board with a try from Ben Hunter, but Warriors rounded off a devastating display with two penalties from the impressive Tiff Eden.
While head coach Carl Hogg kept faith in the club’s youngsters who had carried Worcester to the cup final, Doncaster fielded a side packed full of experience.
With the Knights also having a vocal home crowd behind them, Warriors looked set to have a difficult evening at Castle Park.
But the fans were silenced by a brutal opening period which began with a piece of brilliance from Hammond.
The South African wing collected Eden’s pass before spinning out of a tackle and sprinting over the try-line. Eden added the extras.
This seemed to set the tone for the rest of the half as Worcester soon chalked up another try. Cooper Vuna created the chance as he stopped Doncaster from clearing their lines before strong work at the breakdown saw the ball squirm loose for Grove to touch down. Eden once again dispatched the conversion.
Worcester were piling on the pressure, with their forward pack particularly proving too strong for their opponents.
This was certainly the case for the visitors’ third try as a driving maul set up a score for skipper Bruzulier who burrowed over from close range.
Facing a 19-0 deficit, the Knights’ cause was not helped when Hunter was sin-binned as Worcester surged forward.
Doncaster were struggling to get out of their half and they fell further behind on the half hour mark when Eden fired home from the tee.
The young fly half missed his next attempt, but he soon had the chance to make amends. George made use of plenty of space out wide to score, which Eden coolly converted to secure a 29-0 half-time lead.
The Knights had it all to do in the second period to even make the score look respectable let alone come close to snatching it.
But after a scrappy opening ten minutes to the half, Doncaster finally got themselves on the board. Hunter atoned his earlier yellow card by scoring his side’s first try which came from a catch and drive.
This could have given Doncaster the platform to put together some sort of fight back. But when referee Andy Brace accused Douglas Flockhard for taking too long to take the resultant conversion Knights chances disappeared.
Worcester remained on top and put further breathing space between themselves and the home side with two penalties from Eden.
George was yellow carded late on, but a superb try-saving tackle from Charlie Mulchrone on Tyson Lewis summed up Worcester’s performance as they held out for a convincing victory.