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Unstoppable Worcester pack dent Harlequins' play-off hopes
Worcester blew a huge hole in Harlequins’ Gallagher Premiership play-off hopes by posting an impressive 29-14 victory at Sixways. The Warriors forwards were in unstoppable form, with Worcester scoring three first-half tries direct from driving mauls to underpin a first Premiership win of 2020.
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No8 Cornell du Preez, centre Ollie Lawrence and hooker Niall Annett all touched down before scrum-half Francois Hougaard’s 39th-minute score secured a bonus-point and Duncan Weir kicked three conversions before adding a second-half penalty.
Rudderless Quins, eleven points adrift of the play-offs before kick-off, trailed 26-0 at the break, and there was no way back as Worcester comfortably ended a run of eight successive Premiership defeats.
Wing Chris Ashton and substitute hooker Elia Elia claimed consolation tries for Quins, with James Lang adding both conversions, but Worcester were already over the horizon.
It was one of the Warriors’ most emphatic league victories in recent seasons, underlining a dreadful Quins display on a night when they sorely missed rested stars like Mike Brown, Joe Marler and Chris Robshaw.
Big step forward for English rugby fans https://t.co/O1F7bmOxKm
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 26, 2020
Worcester boss Alan Solomons made ten changes from the side beaten by Wasps last time out, including a return for captain Ted Hill, while Quins were led by No8 Tom Lawday and included scrum-half Danny Care on the bench following his recovery from a back injury.
Despite their long run of league losses, Worcester did not lack confidence and they rocked Quins through a powerful start. Weir missed a second-minute penalty chance, but the Warriors struck from their first attack, relentlessly driving a lineout and du Preez pounced for a try that Weir converted.
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Quins were pinned deep inside their own half and they fell further behind in the twelfth minute after another mighty Worcester drive, this time joined by some of the backs, and Lawrence touched down.
Quins needed to regroup after a miserable opening, but Worcester were organised and tactically efficient as they comfortably preserved their healthy advantage. The visitors struggled alarmingly in scrum and lineout and Worcester just kept repeating Quins’ punishment.
Worcester’s third try from a driving maul arrived twelve minutes before the break, with Annett the latest beneficiary before Weir’s conversion opened up a 19-0 lead. And there was still time before the interval for Quins to suffer more misery.
Inevitably, Worcester drove another short-range lineout, Quins struggled to defend it and Hougaard darted clear to claim a bonus-point try. Weir’s conversion saw Worcester lead by 26 points at the break and Quins had a mountain of Everest proportions to climb.
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Weir added a penalty early in the second period before Quins worked a try for Ashton – the 87th of his Premiership career – that Lang converted. There was more purpose and energy about Quins in the second-half, lifted by Care joining the action, although their forwards continued to endure a torrid time.
It was a defeat that renders the play-offs a distant prospect and even a top-six place, on this evidence, could prove beyond the Londoners.
'If you had said to me in that moment I would play until I was 35 I would have called you an idiot'
In 2005 @marklambert3 was told he'd never play rugby again. 250 @Harlequins caps later, he talks to @heagneyl ??? https://t.co/Ik7Ml8YK7f
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) July 26, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 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
3 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 commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments