DOWNBEAT John Brain described Worcester Rugby Club's 27-24 defeat at Orrell as a 'major blow' to their Premiership ambitions.

The Sixways coach was particularly low after watching his side go down at Edge Hall Road, a defeat which puts Rotherham in control of the race for the National One title.

"Orrell are a very dangerous side with the ball and they had too much of it in the second half," said Brain.

"It was always going to be a very close game and unfortunately we've lost out right at the end. It is a major blow to us and our promotion hopes. There wasn't enough urgency in our play and we sat off for too long."

The long list of injuries hardly helped preparations, however, and Worcester were again disrupted by the loss of Gary Trueman with an ankle injury. The centre failed a late fitness test and Brain was forced into throwing Will Wigram in at the deep end with Ben Hinshelwood and David Officer unavailable.

Named

Officer was named among the substitutes but with the injury curse moving through the centres it now looks like it's caught the half backs with Tim Walsh, Craig Chalmers and Jon Higgins also all ruled out.

"We've had a lot of injuries and a lot of disruption in the backs," added Brain.

"Duncan Roke played today with 'flu and these things take their toll. It would have been nice to come to Orrell with a full compliment of players but that wasn't the case."

Brain, though, had mixed feelings about the match with Worcester looking likely winners for the majority of the game. "We could have won the game but the fact that we've lost means we are relying on others to beat Rotherham," he said.

"Rotherham have still got to go to Exeter and Orrell and they've still got to come to Sixways so there is a lot still to play for. But this defeat is as big a boost for them as it is a blow for us. "We all knew that if we had won at Orrell that we would have taken a major step towards achieving our ambition. "In the end, though, we have taken a major step backwards."