Worcester edge London Irish in low-scoring Premiership opener
Worcester got their Premiership season off to a winning start with a narrow 11-10 victory over London Irish in an error-ridden game at Sixways. Tom Howe scored the decisive try for the hosts midway through the second half, with Billy Searle adding the rest of Worcester’s points from two penalties.
Irish replacement Nick Phipps had gone over for the visitors moments before Howe’s try, with Paddy Jackson converting having already slotted over an early penalty, but it was not enough to deny the Warriors.
There was a minute silence before the game for Worcester president Cecil Duckworth, whose death at the age of 83 was announced earlier in the week. Duckworth was a major benefactor to the Warriors over a number of years and was awarded the CBE for services to charity in 2013.
Worcester took a sixth-minute lead when Searle kicked a straightforward penalty after the visitors’ pack had been penalised at a scrum, but that was soon nullified by one from Jackson from a similar range. The two penalties were the only scores of a disjointed first quarter in which the Warriors came closest to scoring a try after strong bursts from Ethan Waller and Ted Hill had put the Irish defence on the back foot.
Irish were under constant pressure in the scrums, conceding a number of penalties which allowed their opponents to dictate play. The home side should have re-taken the lead when a well-timed pass from Niall Annett sent Nick David racing away down the left flank. The wing then fed Searle but the outside half dithered and a great opportunity was lost.
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As a result of their scrummaging problems, the visitors replaced tight-head prop Sekope Kepu with Ollie Hoskins but the next set-piece saw the Irish pack again shunted backwards to earn a warning from the referee, with loosehead prop Harry Elrington then withdrawn with an injury.
In the second quarter Worcester spurned a host of scoring chances through poor handling and when Searle missed a penalty just before half-time it summed up their profligacy as the scores remained level at 3-3 at the interval.
The first scrum of the second half saw Irish again penalised to give the home side a platform in their 22, from where Searle kicked an easy goal. However, the visitors became more competitive in the third quarter which finished scoreless.
Irish brought on former Warrior Agustin Creevy and flanker Blair Cowan to add some power to their pack and with almost their foray into the Worcester 22, they scored when Phipps darted over from close range after Ben Loader was dragged down narrowly short.
Jackson converted from wide out before Worcester regained the lead when a period of pressure ended with Howe forcing his way over. Searle was off-target with the conversion, as was Jackson with a 50-metre penalty, as the Warriors held on to scrape victory in a game they should have won comfortably.
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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