Warriors 26-35 Munster
Pre-season friendly
Sixways
WARRIORS wrapped up their pre-season schedule with a closely-fought defeat to Munster under the Sixways floodlights on Thursday night.
Munster’s Tommy O’Donnell opened the scoring for the Irish outfit, before the hosts replied through Sam Olver.
Warriors then took the lead following tries from Dean Hammond and Wynand Olivier, before Munster hit back with a Duncan Williams score to make it a five-point game.
But Worcester made sure they would take a healthy lead into the break when Perry Humphreys bolted under the posts to open a 26-14 advantage.
But Munster closed the gap again entering the second half, when Williams scored his second try of the game, before two late tries from Mike Sherry and James Hart sealed the win for the Guinness Pro14 side.
The visitors started well and went ahead in the opening five minutes when O’Donnell raced down the left to touch down, before Tyler Bleyendaal added the extras.
Warriors soon found their way into the game and got off the mark courtesy of summer signing Olver, who strolled across to the whitewash after good work from the forward pack.
The hosts then gained the upper hand midway through the first-half when Hammond intercepted a loose pass from Billy Holland and raced underneath the posts, before Olver converted to give Warriors the lead.
Worcester soon had their third try when Olivier forced his way through a melee of Munster defenders to touch down.
But Munster hit back and reduced Warriors’ lead with three minutes of the first-half remaining, when Gerbrandt Grobler teed-up scrum-half Williams to run in unopposed.
Humphreys then got on the scoresheet when he picked up Olver’s crossfield kick and raced away from the halfway line to gift Warriors a 26-14 half-time lead.
Both team’s defences were valiant entering the second half, with several attacks being thwarted at each end.
But Munster kept the contest alive when Williams went over for his second, before Bleyendaal slotted the conversion to reduce the deficit to five points.
The pace of the game slowed in the latter stages and it looked as if the scoreline would remain the same, but Munster stole victory late on as Sherry finished from close range, before Hart forced his way over at the death.
Warriors enter next Friday’s Aviva Premiership curtain-raiser against Newcastle Falcons at Kingston Park (kick-off 7.45pm) with one win from three pre-season games.