Worcestershire Sport

Warriors seal confidence boosting win

Worcester Warriors 19 London Irish 9
LV= Cup
Andrew Warren reports from Sixways

MUCH IMPROVED Worcester Warriors are free to focus on Guinness Premiership survival after seeing off London Irish in their final LV= Cup game.
Despite already being eliminated from the competition, a Chris Pennell try and four penalties from the boot of Willie Walker sealed the victory for the Sixways side in a game which will boost the confidence levels and inject some momentum ahead of their clash with Saracens at Wembley next Saturday.
The home side moved the ball better than they have in recent weeks, and restricted the number of penalties they conceded leaving director of rugby Mike Ruddock knowing it is this level of performance that is needed to ensure league survival.
Warriors started well asChris Pennell found space to feed the returning Marcel Garvey. The wing's chip and chase bounced behind opposite number Topsy Ojo, who could only knock back towards his own line and despite good footwork from Chris Latham the Australian couldn't touch down.
The home side didn't have to wait long to take a deserved lead though, as a scrum taken against the head saw the ball moved right to the excellent Dale Rasmussen who superbly broke three Irish tackles before off loading to Pennell who went in under the posts. Willie Walker added the easy two before his former Gloucester team mate Ryan Lamb got his side off the mark with a 40 yard penalty after Warriors were guilty of holding on.
A raking cross field kick from Walker almost produced the game's second try as Greg King superbly ripped the ball from Ojo. King powered toward the line by skipper Pat Sanderson couldn't collect his offload and the chance was gone. The boot of Walker did extend his side's lead with a close range penalty which was cancelled out by Lamb minutes later who chipped over from a similar position to close the gap to four points.
After a bright attacking start the the game became a more scrappy affair with errors creeping in from both sides, before a Latham grubber almost slipped Pennell in but the ball was ushered in to touch. From the line out Warriors forced a succession of close range scrums but couldn't force the ball over the line, but right on half time Walker slotted a penalty after Irish collapsed the scrum.
After the break the ball spent most of the time in the air as both sides battled for field position before Irish fly half Lamb was binned for ten minutes after referee David Bodillyheard enough back chat. Walker kicked the simple three again before slotting a longer effort after Dan Murphy failed to keep his bind at the scrum. Jamie Lennard replaced Lamb after serving his time in the bin, and Peter Hewat took over kicking duties to reduce the Warriors lead to ten points.
Just after the hour mark Warriors produced an impressive 20 pass move which saw Matt Jones zip the ball from side to side. Good hands from Matt Mullan gave the ball to Chris Fortey who slipped in Pennell. The wing bizarrely kicked the ball backwards to find Jones, but the move continued out across the field to Sanderson but the move fizzled out as Warriors infringed at the breakdown.
Jones had one more lunge at the line before the final whistle but could only knock-on as Warriors claimed a win which will inspire confidence ahead of a tough spell of games.

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