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Newcastle Falcons edging closer to oblivion as Worcester Warriors Josh Adam runs riot against Sale Sharks
Josh Adams scored a hat-trick of tries as Worcester picked up a valuable five points in their battle against relegation with a convincing 39-17 win over Sale at Sixways.
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The bonus-point victory took Worcester seven points clear of bottom club Newcastle in the Gallagher Premiership, with each side having only three matches to play.
As well as Adams’ second-half treble, Chris Pennell and Sam Lewis also crossed for the Warriors with Duncan Weir contributing four conversions and two penalties.
A disappointing Sale were outfought throughout to finish pointless, which was a big blow to their hopes of earning European Champions Cup rugby next season.
Josh Beaumont and Matt Postlethwaite scored the Sharks’ tries with AJ MacGinty kicking a penalty and two conversions.
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Worcester dominated the opening exchanges and were rewarded with the first try inside six minutes.
From a line-out on the visitors 22, a well-timed pass from Ethan Waller sent Lewis through a gap before the flanker raced away to score.
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Weir converted before adding a simple penalty as Sale struggled to gain a foothold in the match.
It therefore came as no surprise when the Warriors extended their lead with a second try in the 17th minute.
??? pic.twitter.com/6s50MKstZa
— Worcester Warriors (@WorcsWarriors) April 13, 2019
After building a platform in the opposition 22, a burst from Adams put the Sale defence on the back foot before a strong run down the right flank from Bryce Heem created the try for Pennell.
Weir’s conversion gave Worcester a 17-0 lead at the end of the first quarter before Sale produced their first attack to put the home side under pressure.
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Stout defence from the hosts, with key tackles from Adams and Marco Mama, kept their line intact until Beaumont broke through to score in the 28th minute.
Sale’s hopes of building on that converted try suffered a blow when Rohan Janse Van Rensburg was forced to leave the field through injury, with Cameron Redpath coming on to replace him.
Big. Win. For. Worcester!
A huge 5?? points in the battle at the bottom!
Josh Adams standing up to be counted with a hat-trick, including this outstanding score ? pic.twitter.com/tgVt6roj4h
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) April 13, 2019
Another setback soon followed with number eight Josh Strauss departing for a head injury assessment.
Strauss failed to return and seven minutes after the restart, Weir was on target with his second penalty after Sale had infringed at a scrum.
MacGinty kept Sharks in contention with a three-pointer before Worcester scored a crucial third try.
Francois Venter and Pennell both went close before the ball was recycled for Ben Te’o to provide Adams with an easy run-in.
Warriors should have sealed victory minutes later but Pennell knocked-on with the line at his mercy after good work from Heem and Venter had set up the opportunity.
It mattered little, though, as in the 62nd minute the hosts secured their bonus point when a flowing move sent Adams flying over his second try before Heem was yellow carded for a dangerous tackle.
Sale took advantage when Postlethwaite charged down a clearance to score but it was too little too late, and Worcester finished on a high with Adams completing his hat-trick late on after winning the race to collect a chip through from Michael Heaney.
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to comments