PLENTY of changes have taken place at Worcester Warriors over the past 12 months – none more so than a new man taking over the reins in Dean Ryan.
But while the club’s director of rugby continues to shake things up off the field, on the pitch matters still remain in tatters.
Their 21-20 defeat to Harlequins on Saturday means Warriors have now gone more than a year since they last recorded a win in the Aviva Premiership. A total of 21 straight losses have followed since Jonny Arr’s try ensured a 29-23 victory over London Wasps on March 1, 2013.
However, that long losing streak was seriously under threat of being finally put to bed as Warriors responded to their dismal display against Sale Sharks last week with a flying start at The Stoop.
Quins were struggling to come to terms with a resurgent Worcester who opened the scoring with a fourth minute penalty from Chris Pennell.
Ryan Lamb soon doubled the visitors’ lead, but it could have been so much more as the fly half’s first attempt at goal sailed wide after Pennell saw his penalty effort clatter the upright.
But Warriors shrugged off the disappointment to score a superb opening try on the half hour mark. David Lemi slipped through a gap and sprinted for the line before producing an extravagant dive as he celebrated going in under the posts, which Lamb converted.
The home fans were stunned into silence as their side faced a 13-0 deficit while Warriors were also defending their line valiantly, with flanker Mike Williams putting in another fine shift.
Ben Botica struck twice either side of the half time interval to close the gap, but it was only until Leonardo Senatore saw yellow that Warriors’ resistance was finally broken.
And it was Sixways bound Sam Smith who did the damage as the wing crashed over in the corner before setting up Harry Sloan for Quins’ second try.
Botica slotted home a penalty in between the two tries and converted Sloan’s score to steer the hosts into a 21-13 advantage.
Ryan was also left infuriated when Maurie Fa’asavalu’s high tackle on Lamb went unpunished as the match appeared to be slipping away from Warriors.
But the visitors refused to give in and with five minutes remaining they gave themselves a chance of snatching victory. Paul Warwick offloaded to Pennell who eased over the line before dispatching the conversion to set up an exciting finale.
But Worcester could not find the match-winning score as they were left to settle with a losing bonus point which leaves them 11 points adrift of Newcastle Falcons.
Despite missing out on the chance of piling pressure on their relegation rivals with a win, Ryan said he was delighted by the way his players bounced back after last weekend’s loss to Sale.
“I was frustrated last week, but I am not today,” he said. “I asked the club to give everything they can and they just did that.
“I only feel proud of the effort that group have been able to expend. It is frustrating that we are unable to do it week in week out, but today wasn’t one of those days as there were some stand out performers in a very good collective effort.”