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Crisis club Worcester romp to bonus-point thrashing of Newcastle

By PA
(Photo by PA)

Worcester put aside their off-field issues to romp to a 39-5 bonus-point thrashing of Newcastle in a game the crisis-hit Warriors were treating as possibly their last at Sixways. Warriors have until early Monday evening to provide the Rugby Football Union with assurances over financing and insurance, with the risk of suspension and full removal from all leagues hanging over them.

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There may yet be an eleventh-hour rescue package, but all Warriors fans can do now is wait and hope. Yet despite the threat of this encounter being the club’s Gallagher Premiership swansong, head coach Steve Diamond extracted a heroic display from players who completely outgunned a hapless Newcastle outfit five tries to one.

Everywhere you looked it was impossible to escape the reality that the day was about so much more than the game – and for the saddest reasons. There have been weeks of doubt over the future of the club since HM Revenue and Customs issued a winding-up petition over an unpaid £6million tax bill, with the Warriors burdened by debts totalling more than £25m.

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Owners Jason Whittingham and Colin Goldring are still to announce positive action and have until close of business on Monday to convince the RFU that they have a credible plan to continue. Such a backdrop rendered the on-field business secondary but to their credit, the Warriors players held nothing back.

They fell behind to an early pushover try by Falcons hooker George McGuigan – his fourth of the season – but went 7-5 ahead when wing Alex Hearle sliced through a gap to touch down in the 17th minute. The hosts held the upper hand for the rest of the first half and deservedly extended their lead with a second try just before the half-hour mark.

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Lions wing Duhan van der Merwe supplied it, squeezing in at the corner from a beautifully weighted miss pass from outside-half Billy Searle. After an encouraging start that yielded McGuigan’s try, the Falcons were disjointed and sluggish up to the interval, with Searle’s 36th-minute penalty building Worcester a 15-5 lead.

The visitors began the second half with a sustained period of pressure, but the scrambling commitment of the Worcester defence underlined their dogged mindset. In the 62nd minute, Searle’s second penalty extended the Warriors’ lead as Newcastle’s brief resurgence fizzled out.

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The outcome was assured moments later when, after an incisive straight-angle burst by centre Francois Venter, scrum-half Gareth Simpson scampered clear to score beneath the posts. But the Warriors were not finished. As Newcastle tired, replacement flanker Matt Kvesic claimed the bonus-point score in the 70th minute.

There were then high fives galore among the home players when lock Joe Batley went clear for try number five just before the final whistle, after which the players made a lap of honour to thank the supporters.

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J
Jon 9 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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