Worcester Warriors 16

Gloucester 16

Winless Worcester won't get long to wallow in the devastation Richard Hill revealed after seeing his side allow yet another winning position slip in the final seconds.

In just seven days they go to Franklin's Gardens and if the evidence of the last two matches is anything to by, much work remains to be done if it is not to be a humbling afternoon.

Especially in the scrum, the source of their greatest discomfort against both Gloucester and Leicester and one of the main reasons why they didn't squish the sub-par Cherry and Whites.

Hill will rightfully claim that after going ahead through Andy Goode's penalty with only 20 seconds remaining, all Warriors had to do was mop up the restart and deposit the ovoid into the West Stand.

And even once that task proved too testing, they still had the chance to put it into and whip it out of a scrum to secure a first Premiership win. They didn't do that either.

Gloucester's replacement front row marmelised Worcester's replacement front row and Gloucester's replacement kicker Freddie Burns thumped the resulting penalty through the sticks - with the last play of the game. Four points were replaced by two.

Oh my, the agony, the paroxysms of undiluted pain, Hill must be pulling his hair out. Especially when he thinks who's up next for his wobbling scrummage.

Step forward Soane Tonga'uhia and Brian Mujati, arguably the most fearsome propping duo in the northern hemisphere. Arguable only on the assumption you'd be willing to tell them different.

Saints, whom Worcester meet next Saturday, certainly believe them to be so which is probably why Hill thinks they have constructed their entire game-plan around the giant bookends.

"There is a lot of work for us to do this week to neutralise that," he admitted. "I was down at Bath [on Friday night] and it all revolves around the scrum.

"They will go for a scrum, get the a penalty, kick to touch, go for a lineout, drive the lineout and go for the penalty from the lineout. That is very effective, they base their victories on that primarily.

"That is an absolutely crucial area. You have got to defend Northampton in other areas but if you don't stop them in their lineout drive and their scrum then its a hard afternoon.

"I felt Bath managed to disrupt enough scrum ball and stop the Northampton drive. We will have to look at what they have done and emulate them."

Especially since his side came nowhere near neutralising Gloucester who, in the sizeable shapes of Nick Wood and Rupert Harden, boast two very competent front rowers but not yet international quality ones.

Most of the time Matt Mullan coped well with Harden but John Andress was whistled on a few occasions for engaging too early. How Worcester miss Tevita Taumoepeau.

Not that it mattered on the final scrum, the pressure came through the loosehead side and Ceri Jones was the player found wanting.

Hill must be anxious that Worcester do not come to be seen as a soft touch in the set-piece, particularly when their own lineout is not as reliable as it has been in previous years.

And he is also concerned that what has undoubtedly been a positive start to the campaign, in terms of performances at least, does not get lost in the disappointment about results.

Had the home matches with Bath ended a few seconds earlier they'd have two wins and eight points on the board and everyone would have accepted that.

"For me there are so many good signs. We will get there, absolutely no doubt about it," Hill maintained.

"The players are devastated in the dressing room, they really feel very bad. But we have played Bath and Gloucester and we should have won both games.

"We feel we were better than them on the day and we should have won both of those games. That's the positive thing you take from that.

"If we keep training as we are doing we will get better and better as the season goes on. We will pose more problems in attack and finish those chances off.

"From a coach's point of view, you look at that and think you are disappointed but we have produced opportunities inside the 22 and a lot of our work next week will be how to finish those chances off." And how to survive Tongauhia and Mujati too.

WORCESTER: Pennell; Walker (Drauniniu 60), Grove (Matavesi 71), Carlisle, Lemi; Goode, Perry (Arr 60); Mullan (Ceri Jones 66), Lutui (Hayes 71), Andress (Currie 66), Percival, Schofield (Gillies 59), Chris Jones, Betty, Kvesic (Taulava 55).

GLOUCESTER: May; Monahan (Cook 73), Trinder, Tindall (Burns 53), Simpson-Daniel; Twelvetrees, Robson (Lewis 60); Wood (Murphy 60), Edmonds (Dawidiuk 60), Harden (Knight 53), James (Kalamafoni 66), Hamilton, Savage, Hazell (Qera 53), Morgan.

Referee: JP Doyle (RFU)