IN arguably the best result of Mike Ruddock's Sixways reign, Worcester Warriors tamed the Tigers with a thrilling 23-19 Guinness Premiership victory.

Leicester arrived in confident mood and sitting second in the Premiership table two points behind Gloucester, but having suffered a dip in form over recent weeks, whereas Ruddock's men were buoyed by the impressive win at Sale Sharks.

The Warriors blew away the men from Welford Road in a devastating spell either side of the interval when they ran in three tries, all laid on by the imperious Shane Drahm.

Worcester, who have been constantly improving in recent weeks, rose to the occasion and, roared on by a vociferous 10,047 crowd, played some at-times scintillating rugby.

The home side were on top for large parts of the game, but had to endure a dreadful start and a nervous ending before being able to celebrate the victory that put more breathing space between them and cellar-dwellers Leeds Carnegie.

Warriors made a disastrous start when scrum-half Matt Powell's poor pass gave Drahm little time to clear and his kick was charged down, allowing Leicester flanker Brett Deacon to cross for a simple first-minute try. Visiting fly-half Andy Goode added the extras.

Australian number 10 Drahm, who is leaving Sixways at the end of the season to join Japanese oufit Kubota Spears, pulled back three points with a well-struck penalty after Leicester hands in the ruck. Goode then hit the upright with a penalty attempt after Worcester had been guilty of a high tackle, but Drahm made further amends for his early charged down kick with another penalty to bring Worcester to within one point when Leicester were hit for crossing.

Despite the early setback, the home side more than held their own in the opening exchanges and started to attack Leicester. A pacy Sam Tuitupou-led break saw the ball worked to Thinus Delport, who was making his 100th Premiership appearance, but the South African full-back's pass just evaded Marcel Garvey and went into touch.

An impressive spell of expansive play from the Warriors, which featured several power-packed drives into the heart of the Tigers' rearguard, saw the visitors infringe once more, but Drahm's attempt drifted across the face of the target.

As Leicester fought back, Warriors defended their line valiantly, but an off-side decision allowed Goode to stretch the away team's lead to 10-6. The Warriors came charging back at Leicester, though, with two dynamic bursts up field. However, Powell went off-side and the visitors cleared.

Then, with two minutes to go until the interval, a clever short-side line-out move saw hooker Aleki Lutui burst into the Leicester 22. The ball was recycled across the pitch to wing Garvey, who set up another phase, for Drahm to fire a long miss-pass out to All Black second row Greg Rawlinson who bullocked his way through two tacklers to score and put the Warriors a point ahead. Drahm's conversion was off target.

However, as Leicester drove into the Worcester 22 on the last play of the half, the home side infringed and Goode's boot restored his side's advantage.

Conversely to the beginning of the first-half, Warriors started the second-half brilliantly with a good spell of pressure leading to a Drahm break. The fly-half then sent the excellent Garvey scampering over to score under the posts before adding the extras.

More Drahm brilliance set up Worcester's third try as the stand-off burst from inside his own half, leaving defenders in his wake, before chipping ahead. The kick bounced over the on-rushing Miles Benjamin's head but fell to centre Dale Rasmussen who recycled it for wing Benjamin to crash over and send the Warriors fans into raptures.

On his return from a 10-month injury lay-off England scrum-half Harry Ellis, who had been solid behind the Tigers' pack, was replaced by Frank Murphy after 52 minutes.

Young Warriors flanker Tom Wood was spoken to by referee Chris White for persistently coming in at the side and Goode sent his kick straight down the middle of the posts to bring Leicester within a converted score of their hosts. A probing series of Leicester phases were rewarded with three more points for Goode after Warriors conceded a penalty at the breakdown.

Drahm skewed a hurried clearance into touch on the full to give Leicester an attacking platform near the Warriors' 22. However, lock Will Bowley, on as a replacement for the excellent Rawlinson, poached substitute hooker Ben Kayser's throw-in.

Replacement Drew Hickey's perennial ill-discipline cropped up again as the Aussie flanker was sent to the sin-bin for an offence at a ruck in the closing minutes, which allowed Goode to kick to the corner with just over two minutes left and put the Worcester supporters' hearts in their mouths.

Hickey breathed a huge sigh of relief though as the Tigers were hit for accidental off-side to give Worcester the put-in. Warriors kept the ball among the forwards to run the clock down before Kiwi centre Tuitupou picked it up and drove into touch to bring the final whistle and hand Ruddock's men a memorable triumph.

6:34pm Sunday 9th March 2008

Print

Email this