Cornish Pirates 8 Worcester Warriors 69
Greene King IPA Championship
THE BATTLE for top spot appears to be reaching boiling point after Worcester Warriors produced a sizzling display to see off Cornish Pirates.
Worcester’s fierce rivals, Bristol, issued their statement on Friday night with a 40-29 thrashing of Jersey, but Dean Ryan’s hit back with even greater punch on Saturday.
Cornish Pirates, who conceded more than 60 points to Warriors earlier this season, were torn apart by them once again at Mennaye Field.
Cooper Vuna and Charlie Mulchrone both scored hat-trick, while Chris Pennell bagged a brace as the visitors eased to a ten-try victory.
All eyes will now be on Sixways on Saturday where Worcester, who trail the leaders by three points, will be bidding to knock Bristol off the summit ahead of the play-offs.
The final day of the regular season clash looms large for Warriors’ expectant fans, but first things first that had to take care of Cornish Pirates.
The Penzance outfit were the only side to defeat Worcester the last time they were in the Championship – in 2011.
But having put ten tries past them in January, the Sixways side made the long journey south confident of producing a similar rampant showing.
And with the sun out, their backs were ready to wreak havoc, but they were forced to wait their turn as the hosts edged ahead with a penalty from Kieran Hallam.
Worcester also went a man down when Ryan Lamb was sin-binned for obstruction, but this did not seem to disrupt them as they soon got off the mark.
Andy Symons darted through a gap before offloading to GJ Van Velze who passed to Pennell to score, which Symons converted.
Warriors were beginning to find their rhythm and after winning a penalty deep behind enemy lines, Mulchrone skipped off the back of maul and dived over the line.
And the scrum half was at it again several minutes later as he benefitted from a superb break from Symons to score.
It was all Worcester in the first half and they added two more tries before the break. Firstly, Vuna grabbed his first after Lamb spread the ball wide with a kick, before Pennell cut inside to score his side’s fifth try.
Lamb added the extras to open up a 31-3 lead at half-time and Warriors just picked up from where they left off in the second period with Lamb slotting home a penalty.
This was then followed by three tries in a devastating ten minute by Ryan’s men. The first of those came after Biggs intercepted a loose pass. The wing punted the ball towards the try-line before retrieving it and dotting down.
Worcester’s backline were turning on the style and it did take long before replacements Max Stelling got in on the act as he when sprinting down the left before releasing Vuna to notch up his second.
And the Australian’s third came just before the hour mark when he finished off a sublime handling move, involving forwards and backs.
The Cornwall side, who were being tortured in front of their home supporters, managed to ended Worcester’s scoring sequence with a try of their own through Holland.
But Warriors soon wrestled back control and added to their tally as Mulchrone completed his first hat-trick for the club before Howard crossed the whitewash late on.
Lamb converted both scores to wrap up their most convincing win of the season which is likely to give them a further morale boost ahead of their crunch clash with Bristol.