Worcester Warriors 25 Doncaster Knights 5
Greene King IPA Championship
WORCESTER Warriors may have usurped Bristol at the top of the table after defeating Doncaster Knights at Sixways.
But their performance last Saturday did little to show off their promotion winning credentials as they struggled to turn pressure into points.
It took 34 minutes before Worcester finally got on the board as Max Stelling went over to end a turgid opening period in the lead.
A brace from Sam Betty as well as tries from Tom Biggs and Mike Daniels then ensured victory for Warriors, who became the new leaders of English rugby’s second tier after Bristol lost to Cornish Pirates.
Director of rugby Dean Ryan made 11 changes to the starting line-up, which secured victory in the British & Irish Cup quarter finals. But it was two players who remained from that winning side which created Worcester’s first opportunity. Dean Hammond found Ben Howard who raced towards the corner, only to be bundled into touch.
Warriors were piling forward in the opening stages, with Agustin Creevy and Andy Symons smashing their way through, but Doncaster held firm.
After surviving an early onslaught, the game evened up more as the half wore on but Warriors’ stern defence ensured that Doncaster couldn’t find any forward momentum as the score remained scoreless.
The hosts continued to bang on the door and with six minute to go before the break, they finally made the breakthrough. Symons found space down the right before teeing up Stelling, who raced through to score his tenth try of the season.
This gave Worcester a 5-0 lead at half-time which they would have been looking to add to in the second half.
But they continued to spurn chance after chance as Ryan Lamb’s crossfield kick just failed to find the hands of Hammond
Doncaster were defending valiantly, but their hopes of snatching something were dashed moments after Bevon Armitage saw yellow. Worcester’s forward pack drove over the try-line following a five-metre lineout, with topscorer Betty touching down.
And, with that, the floodgates opened as Warriors scored four unanswered tries in the space of eight minutes.
Tom Biggs went over for a third from close range after the ball had been swiftly moved out to the left before Warriors bagged the all-important bonus point. A good handling across the backline saw the ball find Betty who crossed the whitewash for his second try.
But the best of the lot came one minute later as Jonathan Thomas intercepted the ball before offloading to tighthead prop Daniels who sprinted 70 metres to score.
However, Doncaster got the final word as Ross Davies went over on the stroke of full-time.