Worcester Warriors need help for Premiership survival

Mar 30 2009 by Brian Dick, Birmingham Post

BRISTOL 37 WORCESTER WARRIORS 18

In slipping to yet another dismal defeat Worcester gave every impression that they do not possess the wherewithal to determine their own Premiership status and must, therefore, rely on rather more assured hands to deliver them from National League darkness.

While their lead over yesterday’s conquerors was cut to nine points, Warriors at least have a game in hand and the knowledge that Bristol must face London Irish, London Wasps and Leicester Tigers, at least two of whom will not allow the modest Bristolians to frustrate their own loftier ambitions.

And for that Mike Ruddock must be grateful because there were spells of this game when, had one been asked to identify which of these teams is the worst in the division, the finger must have been directed right at his charges.

Set against the context of last Sunday’s gutsy and pragmatic victory over Gloucester, the nature of this display was at times perplexing.

As spirited and indomitable as they had been against the Cherry and Whites, they were timorous and disinterested yesterday.

Not that they should have been because although it probably won’t, their future might rest on this result and what a damning indictment that would be.

What Worcester didn’t want to do was give their hosts any cause for optimism. After half-an-hour and three tries Bristol would have believed in the tooth fairy ,never mind that they could winkle their way out of relegation.

During that first 30 minutes, Ruddock’s men had barely any possession and even less position. When they did have a foothold, their lineout misfired with three balls lost and their tackling ranked somewhere between wafer-thin and drippy.

Even when they did find a way across the Bristol line, referee Wayne Barnes adjudged they had done so illegally after obstruction in midfield. That disallowed try, two minutes before the break, denied Miles Benjamin at least one positive from an otherwise appalling half.

It is perhaps forgivable that the out-of-form wing failed to collect three up-and-unders, as the sun always made him an underdog in aerial combat.

But what was not was his failure to find either Ryan Powell or Pat Sanderson inside him after the Welsh scrum half and given him the freedom of the short-side and a splendid counter-attack opportunity.

By that time, Bristol were already 7-0 up after Matt Jones flopped off Tom Arscott. The home full back easily brushed aside the fly half on the Worcester 22 and, in doing so, created a gap wide enough to get the entire London Transport fleet through.

Arscott weaved past Matt Mullan and Willie Walker to touch down under the posts and give Ed Barnes an easy conversion.

Midway through the period, the former Plymouth threequarter then brushed off the attentions of Alex Grove and lofted a pass for Junior Fatialofa to beat Benjamin to the corner for 12-0.

And then, just short of the half hour, Mariano Sambucetti wriggled his way over. Barnes sniped through the middle, David Lemi was driven within a metre of the line and then the Argentine lock covered the remainder with a little help from his friends.

At 17-0, a bonus-point victory looked the very least Bristol might have hoped for but this side is not at the bottom of the division for the fact that they don’t let opponents have a chance. Worcester were invited back into proceedings and following their cancelled score, Dale Rasmussen barrelled his way over in stoppage] time.

Walker landed the conversion and inconceivably, Bris were only ten points ahead at the break. The gap had narrowed to two within five minutes of the restart as Walker punished Dan Ward-Smith’s failure to release.

And then – Worcester’s try of the season – an aimless clearance by Barnes gave Walker the chance to counter-attack which the New Zealander did with alacrity, releasing Marcel Garvey.

The wing demonstrated his pace by blazing through the defensive line, drawing Arscott and then off-loading for Walker.

The full back looked certain to score only to slip to the ground but, as he went down, he produced a miraculous back-of-the-hand flip to Kai Horstmann to make it 17-15.

That was as good as it got for Worcester; when Ruddock’s side should have pressed forward, instead they pushed the self-destruct button.

Missed touches, knocks-on and poor attention in defence saw the game drift away.

Arscott dropped a goal, Lee Robinson bashed through Walker for the crucial fourth try and Haydn Thomas made Warriors pay for dozing off with a fifth.

And then. with the last action of the game Robinson cancelled Walker’s second three-pointer by crashing under the posts.

BRISTOL: T Arscott; Robinson, Brew (Eves, 59), Fatialofa (L Arscott, 69), Lemi; Barnes, Perry (Thomas, 21); Irish (Thompson, 2-10), Linklater, Crompton (Thompson, 73), Sambucetti (Winters, 59), Sidoli. Pennycock (To’oala, 67), El Abd, Ward-Smith. Replacement: Hayes.
WORCESTER: Walker; Garvey, Grove (Luscombe, 68), Rasmussen, Benjamin; Jones (Crichton, 58), Powell (Arr, 67); Mullan (Black, 63), Fortey (Lutui, 40), Morris, Rawlinson, Bowley (Gillies, 64), Wood (Cox, 72), Sanderson, Horstmann.

Referee: Wayne Barnes (RFU).